KARACHI: The Sindh cabinet was informed on Tuesday that the provincial government had filed an appeal in the Sindh High Court against the revised delimitation of some local government constituencies by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Chaired by Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, the meeting of the Sindh cabinet was held at CM House to discuss issues pertaining to wheat, Muharram security arrangements and upcoming local government elections.

LG Secretary Imran Atta Soomro informed the cabinet that the SHC in its order on a petition of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement said that the ECP did not adhere to the guidelines with regard to territorial unity/distinctions between urban and rural areas in several constituencies while carrying out delimitation.

He said that pursuant to the high court’s order a committee headed by the provincial election commissioner was constituted, which recommended certain changes in the delimitation of electoral constituencies.

The official said that the Sindh government opposed the changes on the ground that the election schedule had already been announced and, therefore, delimitation at this stage would affect the election process. However, the ECP asked the chief secretary to notify the revised constituencies.

Therefore, the local government department filed an appeal against the ECP’s decision in the high court on Tuesday and it would come up for hearing on Wednesday (today), he added.

LG Minister Syed Nasir Shah also briefed the cabinet about amendments made to the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013 and notification and publication of the Election Rules, 2015.

He said that the ECP issued a code of conduct for executive authorities, election observers, media, political parties and candidates.

Giving details of the code of conduct, he said that action would be taken against any government official who misused his/her official position in order to influence the election results. “The observers shall abide by the laws and shall respect the sovereignty of Pakistan as well as the fundamental rights of its people,” he said.

Inspector General of Police Ghulam Hyder Jamali said on the occasion that in the first phase of the LG elections in Sukkur and Larkana divisions 865 constituencies had been declared ‘most sensitive’.

He demanded Rs102 million from the provincial government for security arrangements during Muharram.

Referring to the assassination attempt on MQM lawmaker Rashid Godil, the IGP said that two suspects — one in Hyderabad and another in Karachi — had been arrested.

He added that he would give a detailed briefing to the cabinet after a few days because some other arrests were to be made.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2015

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