The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) asked the Sindh government to submit the date of local government elections, the commission summoned the Chief Secretary Sindh to submit his reply in person.
The move comes after the local bodies election plan for Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was released by the ECP last week.
The term of the elected local bodies had expired on 30 August 2020, and constitutionally new elections should have been held within the 120 days. However, provincial governments have been delaying the local bodies elections.
Last week Supreme Court judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa remarked that local body elections were a constitutional requirement.
He further added that the Punjab government had violated the constitution by dissolving the local government bodies. When it comes to holding local body polls, the provinces start counting off their problems instead of fulfilling their constitutional duty, he added.
Punjab had killed democracy by dissolving the local government before the expiry of its term, the Justice Isa criticised, asking why this had been done.
After multiple court hearings and pressure from the Supreme Court, the ECP has announced the election plan for Punjab and KP.
The ECP in a hearing last week informed the court that Punjab has a total of 25,000 constituencies for local bodies, whereas Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s constituencies number around 4,000. Such numbers would require the electoral body to print 200 million ballots for Punjab and 100 million for KP. The number of ballot papers needed will be four times more than the general election.
Given the financial cost and the logistics of the local elections, it could take three months to procure election materials under the Papers Rules.
April 8 would mark the first phase of the polls, kicking off the massive electoral polls in KP, while the second phase would be held on May 29. On the other hand, Punjab will see three phases for the LG polls, June 20, July 16, and August 8.
