THE PPP-led Sindh government has quite clearly mastered the art of indefinitely delaying local government elections, presumably to ensure that no alternative political leadership emerges from the third tier. The provincial administration recently decided that the second phase of the polls would be put off — yet again — for 90 days in Karachi. This controversial decision has rightly drawn the ire of the chief election commissioner, who remarked at a recent hearing in Islamabad that the Sindh administration had “taken this power [of calling elections] from us”. The CEC further observed that delaying the LG polls violates Supreme Court directives. The country’s top election official also noted that frequent changes in Punjab’s LG law made holding of the polls “impossible”.

The Sindh government is frankly hiding behind excuses when it says it does not have the police personnel and administrative staff (who are presumably busy in flood relief work) to hold the polls in Karachi. After 90 days are up, the provincial administration may well come up with a fresh pretext to delay the polls. The CEC has asked the Sindh government to request Punjab for extra police personnel. The ECP must continue to push both the Sindh and Punjab administrations and call for a concrete timeline for local elections. The ugly fact is that many of the parties that claim to be the champions of democracy display a patently undemocratic attitude when it comes to an elected third tier. The PPP’s lack of interest derives from the fact that its visible misgovernance in Sindh, particularly Karachi, could well result in a drubbing at the ballot box, while a faction-ridden, rudderless MQM is in no position to mount a strong campaign. The PTI, which won most of Karachi’s NA seats in the last general elections, is more interested in capturing Islamabad, while the megacity does not feature on the PML-N’s radar. Therefore, the people of urban Sindh will be looking to the ECP to help them secure their constitutional right of electing their local representatives.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2022