KARACHI: The process of delimitation of constituencies of union committees, union councils and wards for holding the upcoming local government elections has been completed and currently the lists of proposed constituencies in the 29 districts of Sindh are on display at 231 designated centres and locations, it emerged on Monday.

The lists of proposed constituencies will remain on display till July 7 — the last date of filing an objection or suggestion.

Sources close to the Election Commission of Pakistan told Dawn that all efforts were aimed at compliance of the directive of the Supreme Court to hold the LG elections in Sindh on Sept 20.

They said that any person entitled to vote in a constituency may before July 7 make representation or file an objection before the delimitation authority, which would take a decision on it by July 27 as per the schedule.

The representation or objection shall be signed by the person making it and be presented either or by a duly authorised agent in writing.

The objections received within the specified period along with comments of the delimitation officer thereon shall be forwarded to the delimitation authority on the day fixed for the purpose, the sources said.

The delimitation authority may hold inquiry, summon witnesses and record evidence as it may deem necessary and shall dispose of the matter before July 27 and the authority shall communicate its decisions to the delimitation officer who shall incorporate the decisions of the delimitation authority in the preliminary list of the wards and publish the final list of wards and send the same to the ECP for publication in the official gazette to be followed by a notification for the date of elections.

Sindh Local Government Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon told Dawn that the Sindh government was prepared to go for elections as soon as the ECP announced the date after finalisation of the appeals against delimitation of constituencies.

In response to a question, the minister said that forging any alliance with like-minded forces to contest the local government elections was a policy decision, which would decided by the party high command.

The Supreme Court had asked the ECP to submit a progress report on every stage of the local government polls process for its perusal in the chamber.

The bench also warned that any deviation from the schedule would bear serious consequences.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2015

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