The Sindh High Court has taken exception to delays in the holding of local government elections in Karachi and Hyderabad by the Election Commission of Pakistan on grounds of lack of security, and directed the advocate general to submit details of police and Rangers’ deployment in the province.
During Thursday’s hearing of petitions filed by the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf against several deferments of the local government elections in Karachi, a division bench, headed by Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, asked the ECP law officer why the elections were being postponed.
ECP law officer Abdullah Hanjrah submitted that a meeting for holding the polls could not be held on November 9 due to the official holiday. He said the meeting was rescheduled to be held on November 15 and notices were issued to the political parties’ heads.
He submitted that the main cause due to which the elections in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions had not been held to date was the unavailability of requisite security deployment by the provincial government on the grounds that the relevant personnel were engaged in flood relief operations.
The court expressed astonishment over the statement of the ECP law officer, wondering what kind of relief activities were being provided by the police in flood-affected areas and what duties police personnel were performing there. It observed that holding local government elections was the responsibility of the ECP.
The court further observed that reports had also been called from the Sindh IGP and DG Rangers about the deployment of their personnel in the province, but the reports had not been filed yet.
JI counsel Usman Farooq submitted that reports be called from the DG Rangers with regard to the deployment of Rangers personnel in the province so that the actual position could be cleared.
The court directed the advocate general of Sindh to submit complete details of the total strength of police and Rangers personnel in the province along with their current deployments as well as the number of personnel who could be assigned duties in respect of the elections. It directed the provincial law officer to submit requisite details by November 14, observing that provincial election commissioner, the IGP and the chief secretary would be present on the next date of the hearing.
The ECP had earlier informed the court that the Sindh government had once again expressed constraints for conducting the elections. The ECP’s law officer had referred to reports of the provincial government, mentioning that the Sindh police had once again communicated a shortage of police in Karachi with regard to the deployment of cops at sensitive polling stations in the city.
Referring to letter of the IGP, he submitted that 5,000 police personnel of Sindh had been placed at the disposal of the Islamabad IG for maintain law and order in Islamabad, while police from other districts were still not available due to flood duties for at least three months.
He said the IGP had also showed engagement of the police force in the ongoing Covid-19 vaccine campaign and their deployment for the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS-2022), scheduled to be held in the third week of November.
The petitioners had submitted that the term of the last local bodies had expired in August 2020, but instead of holding the elections, the Sindh government appointed administrators throughout the province.
They said the provincial government was reluctant to hold the elections and had deliberately delayed the delimitation process by not providing suggestions, details and required maps for the delimitation of union committees as per the local government law and the 2017 Election Act.
They said the ECP, under the constitution, was bound to conduct the local government polls within 120 days after the end of the previous local bodies’ term. They submitted that the ECP’s decision for the postponement of the polls in Karachi was arbitrary and the provincial government was not interested in holding the polls in the Karachi division in order to retain its control over the powers and resources of its municipal institutions. The high court was requested to direct the ECP to conduct the polls in Karachi without any further delay.
