ISLAMABAD: The local government elections in Sanghar district of Sindh would be held on Dec 17, the Election Commission of Pakistan announced on Wednesday.

The ECP had postponed the polling in the district a day before the second phase of LG elections last month on the basis reports about apprehensions of political clashes in Sanghar. There was a fear of revenge for the Khairpur tragedy in which eight of the 11 people killed during violence in the first phase of LG polls belonged to Sanghar.

Take a look: 11 killed in Khairpur gunfight

But even after the Dec 17 polling the electoral exercise for the lowest tier of governance in the province will remain incomplete because elections in 81 union councils, including five in Sanghar, had been put off following a Sindh High Court’s last-minute order for a fresh delimitation of wards. The elections in these constituencies will be held later.

At a meeting presided over by Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, the Sindh police chief had sought deployment of troops in all 614 polling stations in Sanghar. But the CEC had turned down the request, saying it was not be possible and that a clash in Sanghar could potentially spoil the law and order situation in adjoining districts.

In the second phase of elections in Sindh, 2,571 of the 7,098 polling stations had been declared highly sensitive and the same number sensitive. The situation in Sanghar was so alarming that about 450 of the 614 polling stations had been declared highly sensitive and most of the others sensitive.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2015