KARACHI: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Thursday filed a petition in Sindh High Court against the Election Commission of Pakistan and provincial authorities for again postponing the second phase of local government elections in Sindh.

The PTI sought directive for ECP to either hold LG polls on Aug 28 or announce a fresh schedule and pleaded to set aside the postponement decision of ECP.

The PTI through its MPAs Khurram Sher Zaman, Raja Azhar Khan and Jamal Siddiqui approached the SHC and submitted that on Aug 24, the ECP had again postponed the LG elections scheduled to be held in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions on Aug 28 and did not announce any new date.

The petitioners contended that after the victory of PTI in the by-election of NA-245, the Sindh government has intentionally and deliberately filed application with ECP for postponement of LG polls in order to escape from election.

They further submitted that the ECP was bound to hold elections within 120 days, while the four-year tenure of last local governments in Sindh had expired on Aug 30, 2020, and it has failed to hold the same and violated the mandatory provisions of law.

The petitioners argued that provincial government was malafidely delaying the elections without any justification and deliberately not transferring the power to the representative of local governments as provided under Article 140-A of the Constitution and also appointed blue-eyed administrators and officers in Karachi, Hyderabad and others cities instead of neutral administration/administrators.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2022