KARACHI: The opposition parties in Sindh on Thursday insisted on holding local bodies’ elections in Karachi immediately and accused the ruling parties, both in the province and at the Centre, of deliberately delaying the democratic process only for their own vested political interests.

They accused the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of conniving with the ruling parties that led to time and again postponement of the local bodies’ elections in Karachi only to save themselves from a certain defeat.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf came out with a strong reaction against the ECP’s decision to put off the polls for a third time and also tabled a resolution in Sindh Assembly on Thursday.

The PTI asked the ECP chief through the resolution to step down for failing to fulfil his constitutional responsibility.

Resolution tabled in assembly against postponement

The PTI Parliamentary Leader in the Sindh Assembly, Khurrum Sher Zaman, submitted the resolution to the secretary of the Sindh Assembly condemning the delay in the local government elections in Karachi.

He described the ECP decision to delay the polls for a third time as contemptible and anti-democratic.

The decision, the resolution read, leads to doubts about ECP’s neutrality and independence.

“The PTI parliamentary leader slated both the federal and Sindh governments for using the recent floods as an excuse to justify the lack of police personnel and other law enforcement personnel available for election duty in Karachi,” said Mr Zaman.

“The resolution questions why the Sindh government agreed to send 1,000 police personnel to Islamabad at the request of the federal interior minister.” Mr Zaman the Sindh government should send no police personnel to Islamabad. The Jamaat-i-Islami staged demonstrations across the city to protest against the ECP decision.

Addressing one of the demonstrations, JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman questioned the role of chief election commissioner and asked him to quit for postponing the elections on “illogical grounds”.

“The Constitution empowers him [ECP chief] to order deployment of army, FC, police or any other force to hold elections anywhere in the country,” he said. “But when it comes to Karachi local bodies’ elections, we see the ECP chief making requests and accepting all excuses from the law-enforcement agencies and provincial government. The ECP chief has failed miserably to justify his job. He needs to quit and tender his resignation.”

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2022