ECP determined to hold Sindh LG polls tomorrow

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Friday rejected the Sindh government’s latest plea for postponement of second phase of local government elections (LG) and said the polls will take place as per schedule on January 15.

To this effect, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja presided over a meeting here and took this decision.

The forum reviewed the request sent by the Sindh government and unanimously rejected it.

The meeting also decided to direct the Ministry of Interior to ensure deployment of additional Army and Rangers troops outside the polling stations.

The Election Commission’s decision to again ask the ministry for additional deployment was taken following the army’s refusal to spare additional troops for static deployment as well as the Sindh government’s unilateral announcement to put off the polls yet again.

Meanwhile, the intelligence agencies Friday recommended the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to postpone the second phase of local bodies’ elections citing serious ‘security threats’.

A meeting of the institutions “responsible for national security” was held in Karachi on Friday which expressed “severe concerns” over the recent LG polls in Sindh, well-placed sources said, reports Geo News. The officials of the national security institutions conveyed the meeting’s concerns to the ECP and briefed the election organising body on the security threats.

The huddle also discussed the 17 security threats received during the past one-and-half months in the province, the sources added.

Strong networks of banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) exist in the province, the meeting was told. Terrorism has witnessed a spike in the country in recent months after the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended a ceasefire with Islamabad and took innocent lives. The Pakistan Army’s top brass and the federal government have vowed to beat the terrorists and eliminate the menace but the threat still remains.

The activities of militants have been mainly focused in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with the former accounting for 31% of the attacks during the last year and the latter 67%, according to the statistics provided by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah.

However, before the intelligence agencies’ warning, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said the provincial government had decided to delay the polls due to the concerns of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).

The Karachi-based party has stressed that the LB elections in Karachi and Hyderabad could not be held until a new delimitation, but at the same time, it did not rule out its participation. “If despite our concerns, the elections do take place, then we will not boycott them. However, we will not accept the results of the elections,” MQM-P spokesperson Ahsan Ghauri told Geo News.

The old guard of the MQM — Mustafa Kamal and Farooq Sattar — have merged their factions under Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui’s leadership, with Sattar saying that it was a “rebranded MQM-P”. The second round of LG elections was scheduled to take place on July 24 last year, but the Sindh government excused itself from holding the polls over the lack of security and police presence due to the flooding.

Later, the elections were also postponed on August 28, October 23, and the announcement was made for January 15 — making it the fourth time that the polls have been put off.

Moreover, as the ECP has decided to hold the polls, it has dispatched the polling material to the distribution centres from where they will be transported to the polling stations.

“If the elections take place, then the material will be dispatched to the polling stations tomorrow under police security,” an ECP official, who wished to remain anonymous, told Geo News.

In light of the polls, the colleges and schools in the province will stand closed on Saturday.

Meanwhile, in a bid to keep the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) in the federal government, Pakistan Peoples Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif contacted MQM-P Convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on Friday night.

According to the MQM-P sources, in conversation with the PM Shehbaz Sharif, Siddiqui said that during their meeting with him [the PM] he informed him about the MQM-P reservations on local body polls. However, despite the PM assurances, the MQM-P did not get any response for five days. On this, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that he will address the grievances as MQM-P is an important ally of the federal government, sources said quoting the PM.

After the telephonic conversation with the PM, PPP Co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari contacted Siddiqui and assured him that the Sindh government was trying to address the complaints of MQM-P and pledged of making a positive progress by late night today (Friday). In response, Siddiqui said that the government should ensure implementation of our demands and if our demands were not meet, MQM-P would take our decision in the next two or three hours, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Democratic Movement head Maulana Fazlur Rehman also contact Siddiqui and said that the MQM-P should not take any decision in haste and assured him that the issue would resolved. However, Siddiqui insisted that the party would decide the future of course of action in the next two or three hours as the government has two options, first correct the delimitation or face MQM-P’s quitting the government.

On Friday evening, the party convened an urgent meeting to consider the parting ways with the federal government. The party sources told The News that MQM-P top leadership demanded resignations from MQM-P MNA who happily complied.

Earlier, the MQM-P leaders in a press conference reiterated that the LG elections in Karachi and Hyderabad could not be held until new delimitations are made, but at the same time, it did not rule out its participation. Addressing a press conference alongside MQM-P leaders, Barrister Farogh Naseem accused the Sindh government of unfairness while determining the constituencies for the local government polls.

The MQM-P’s announcement came hours after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decided to hold local government polls in Karachi and Hyderabad according to the schedule on January 15, rejecting the Sindh government’s request to postpone them. “Under Sindh Local Government Act Section 10 subsection 1, the provincial government had determined the constituencies for the LG polls, but the constituencies had a disproportional population,” he added. The constituencies where the MQM-P has vote banks consist of 90,000 people whereas those of others have only 20,000 population, he claimed, adding that it was “injustice” with the population. Through the delimitations, the MQM-P vote bank has been downsized, Naseem said and termed it “pre-poll rigging”.

Raising questions over the size of the population in different constituencies, the MQM-P leader further said that as per the principle, the variation of the population in the constituencies could not be more than “+-10%”. The ECP decided to hold LG polls in Karachi and Hyderabad by using the “provision of Section 9” of the Constitution, he said and argued that the section is not applicable in the case as the provincial government had issued the orders under Section 10 (1). “Section 9 is not applicable for an order issued under Section 10(1),” he added. “The ECP has no jurisdiction in Section 10 (1),” the former law minister added. Terming the election authority’s order “void”, Naseem said the LB polls would not have legal status.

Speaking at the occasion, MQM-P leader Faisal Subzwari said: “It is visible in the constituencies that the population of Nazimabad, Korangi, and Orangi Town is more compared to the seats. In some areas, the population is less and the seats are more. How will the elections be transparent?,” he asked.

Reacting to ECP decision, Farooq Sattar said the ECP set aside the decision of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and the cabinet. “Has the Election Commission become more reliable than the Supreme Court?” he said, raising questions on the authority the commission possesses.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman welcomed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s decision to reject the unconstitutional, illegal demand by the Pakistan People Party government in Sindh. Earlier in the day, the JI leader had announced a sit-in protest outside the ECP, Sindh office against the PPP government’s decision and the continuous delay in the polls. However, later in the day, the JI leader called off the protest after the ECP rejected the plea made by the PPP government through a letter to the commission.

The JI leader expressed his resolve to defeat the feudal mindset depicted by the PPP, and her urban facilitator — Muttahida Qaumi Movement. He directed the party workers to maximize their efforts to get the city rid of the political parasites. Engr Naeemur Rehman also urged Karachiites to play their due role and come forward on January 15 to vote to commence a new era in the history of the mega city.

He asked the MQM-P leadership why didn’t they get the notification of delimitations withdrawn at the time of regime change in Pakistan when each and every political party was visiting Bahadurabad and the MQM had the opportunity to get rights for Karachiites. He recalled that Karachi and Karachiites were deprived of their civic and democratic rights in 2013 when the MQM was a part of the government but the party enjoyed the coalition government, perks, and ministries and continued to facilitate the PPP government. The JI Karachi chief insisted that according to the law, delimitations can’t be made after announcement of elections. Karachiites will not accept any such illegal notification or ordinance, he said.

While addressing a presser at Insaf House, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Sindh President Haider Zaidi along with former Governor Sindh Imran Ismail said that the PPP was rescuing the MQM-P from an embarrassing defeat in the local body polls on Sunday. “The delimitation of constituencies began in December 2021 and now it’s January 2023, thus, why MQM-P is crying about delimitation now.

He said that the democratic parties don’t run away from elections but this must be the first alliance in history made to prevent an election from happening. Zaidi was adamant that political engineering is stopping Pakistan from progressing and that only a government with a public mandate can take the country forward. The MQM-P reunification doesn’t pose a threat to PTI in Karachi, he said. “If Mustafa Kamal’s allegations against MQM being a RAW agent were true, then why has Kamal returned to the MQM yesterday? Who is forcing Mustafa Kamal to reunite with the MQM,” asked PTI Sindh President, and accused the MQM of frequently saving former President Asif Ali Zardari and the PPP. He also asked why all the security institutions that certified various JITs like those against Uzair Baloch, Nisar Morai, Omni Group and Baldia Town Factory fire were not pursuing these cases?

Speaking on the occasion, former Sindh Governor Imran Ismail said local government elections were not being held in the country. The Islamabad local elections were postponed due to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) while the politics of the PPP and MQM have delayed the local elections in Karachi and Hyderabad for the fourth time.

Ismail lauded the efforts of former Prime Minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Chief Minister Punjab Pervez Elahi for foiling Asif Zardari’s regime change conspiracy in Punjab. He expected that PTI to win a two-thirds majority in both the KPK and Punjab Assembly elections. Zaidi appealed to all the state institutions to focus on saving Pakistan rather than trying to remove one leader from politics.

Meanwhile, Sindh Information and Transport Minister, Sharjeel Inam Memon, while talking to media persons said the Sindh government would not promulgate any ordinance to get the local government polls in Karachi and Hyderabad deferred again.

The Sindh Information Minister gave the assurance after the Election Commission of Pakistan overruled the Sindh government’s decision to scrap delimitations of constituencies in Karachi and Hyderabad. Memon said that it was beyond the authority of the Sindh government to prevent the holding of local government elections.

He said the Sindh government would ensure the deployment of personnel of Police and Rangers at the polling stations. He said the Sindh government was duty-bound to act upon the orders given by the constitutional institutons. He said the Sindh government had duly exercised its constitutional and legal authority while withdrawing the notification of the delimitations issued under section 10-A of the Sindh Local Government Act-2013 (SLGA-2013).

He conceded that the Sindh government had withdrawn the notification of the delimitations as demanded by Muttahida Quami Movement. He was of the opinion that the ECP was not lawfully empowered to reject the latest notification of the provincial government issued to scrap the delimitation of constituencies. “Nor the Sindh government could interfere with the authority of the ECP,” he said. Recalling political parties concern over the issue, the provincial minister said “we want level playing field for every political party,” he said.