ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s standing committee on parliamentary affairs recommended on Friday that local government elections in Punjab and Sindh planned for Sept 20 be put off in view of floods in the two provinces.

The committee, headed by Mian Abdul Rahman, had previously recommended holding of polls in division-wise phases.

Briefing the committee on the process of local government elections, Election Commission Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad said the Sindh government would face numerous problems in case polls were held on a single day, including shortage of security and polling personnel and ballot boxes.

Flood in the two provinces has been cited as a reason

He said the Sindh government had not yet updated and finalised local government election rules, 2013, adding that nomination papers would be printed only after the rules were finalised.

He said the manual of instructions for District Returning Officers (DROs), Returning Officers (ROs) and Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) also would be prepared only after the finalisation of rules.

The NA committee was told that according to Rule 24 (7) of Sindh Local Council (election) rules in present form, ballot papers shall be printed in the format determined by the ECP that only has symbols. The said format will be clarified after finalisation of rules by the provincial government.

Sources told Dawn that a meeting had been convened on July 27 to discuss the upcoming local government elections in Sindh, with particular reference to Sindh Local Council (election) rules.

The Supreme Court is likely to take up for hearing an application filed by the ECP seeking its approval for holding of staggered LG polls, which many believe was the only viable option to avoid recurrence of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-like mismanagement.

Both the Sindh and Punjab governments also want holding of polls in phased manner and the Sindh government has already proposed polls in three phases to the ECP.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2015

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