KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has declared as illegal the entire delimitation exercise carried out for local government elections in Sindh and directed the provincial government to hold the elections as per schedule “on the position as existing prior to delimitation process”.

In a 78-page judgement on Monday, a two-judge bench, headed by Justice Mohammed Ali Mazhar, said the provincial government might request the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of Pakistan for an extension in the date of elections if it thought that delimitation was necessary before the polls.

The court suggested that an independent commission should be formed by the government “with proper rules and procedure to deal with the objections and also provide an independent forum of an appellate authority to hear and decide the appeals in delimitation cases” if the date of elections is extended by the apex court.

With these directives the court disposed of as many as 17 petitions challenging the delimitation process.

The court struck down the amendments made through sections 3, 4 and 8 of the Sindh Local Government (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 (passed by the Sindh Assembly) whereby a proviso has been added to sub-section (1) of section 13, sub-sections 12 & 14 have been added to section 18 and a substitution made in Schedule-I, in Part-C under the head “Union Committee in Metropolitan Corporation” for the figures “40,000-50,000” to the figures “10,000 to 50,000” in the Sindh Local Government Act 2013.

The court ruled that the amendments were in violation of sections 12, 13, 34, 35, 36 and 153-A of the LG Act and also contrary to articles 17, 25, 140A, 218 and 219 of the Constitution.

The order said: “The entire delimitation exercise carried out by the delimitation officers is declared to have been conducted in violation of sections 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, and the guidelines issued by the government. Consequently, the final delimitation proposal published in the official gazette on 13.11.2013 for Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur and Larkana divisions and the notification dated 21.11.2013 published for Karachi Division both are set aside.”

The court observed that delimitation of constituencies was a serious business “which cannot be done in a slipshod manner or in spur of moment but it requires hectic and strenuous efforts”.

“Even in our own Delimitation Act, 1974, detailed procedure is provided for delimitation of constituencies in which the commission has to receive and consider representation, hold inquires, summon witnesses and record evidence and shall prepare and publish in the official gazette a preliminary report,” the bench said.

No doubt, it observed, the provincial government had prerogative to delimit union councils and wards under sections 10 and 11 of the SLGA 2013, but under the letter of law it was clearly provided that it had to maintain territorial unity.

“We feel no hesitation to hold that sub-sections 12 and 14 added to section 18 of SLGA 2013 by third amendment ordinance, whereby a mandatory condition was imposed for formation of panel that consists of nine candidates, were illegal and in violation of articles 17 and 25 of the Constitution,” the court said.

It noted that through imposition of amendments, an independent candidate who might be so pious, competent and had integrity and entitled to contest election was ousted, which was a sheer violation of sections 35 and 36 of SLGA 2013 in which no condition of panel was imposed.

The court observed that under the fresh rules, no individual could contest the election as an independent unless the person formed a panel. It termed the law unique and said it infringed upon the fundamental right of a citizen.

The court said that no justification had been forwarded by the provincial government for this amendment except that this exercise would save a large number of ballot papers.