PHOTO: EXPRESS
KARACHI:
The provincial election commission modified the delimitations of union councils in some districts of Sindh on Tuesday, in line with the Sindh High Court's latest orders regarding the boundaries of these administrative units.
The districts and towns where the officials of the election commission corrected the boundaries include rural and urban areas of Karachi, Hyderabad, Tando Allahyar, Mirpurkhas and Sanghar.
Though the provincial election commission has yet to submit the compliance report in court, officials of the election commission said that almost all the work has been done by the district election commissioner and the report will be presented in court soon. The court had earlier invalidated the process of delimitation in some union councils (UCs) and ordered to redraw the boundaries of these constituencies. The verdict was announced after hearing the over one dozens petitions filed against the delimitation process in the province.
This has, however, created confusion about the fate of those candidates who had submitted their nominations in rural areas and after the recent modification, their areas now fall in an urban constituency. "The date for the submission of nomination forms has expired. Does this mean these candidates will submit the forms again?" questioned a senior official of the election commission.
When contacted, the provincial election commissioner, Tanveer Zaki, did not give a proper answer to the questions, "They [district election commissioners] have almost finalised the modifications and will also resolve this issue soon," he said.
The petitioners included members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Muslim League - Functional (PML-F) and the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N). They had challenged the delimitation process in their areas, terming it pre-poll rigging and requested to redraw the constituencies in their areas. "Rural areas had been incorporated in urban areas. The areas we dominate in union councils of Tando Adam have been shifted to various places. This all has been done by the Sindh government officials on the orders of the Pakistan Peoples Party leaders," said Mujahid Channa, the JI's information secretary for its Sindh chapter.
In court
Meanwhile in court on Tuesday, the Sindh High Court (SHC) asked the MQM leaders to point out irregularities allegedly committed in the ongoing delimitation of constituencies in the Malir and Korangi districts of Karachi to the provincial election authorities for correction.
Headed by chief justice Faisal Arab, the division bench asked the petitioners and the provincial election commission authorities to come up with an agreement in this regard on Wednesday.
Earlier, the MQM leaders had challenged the process of drawing of the electoral constituencies in parts of Karachi ahead of the local bodies elections.
They had argued that the authorities had deliberately merged some parts of Korangi with Malir district. Similarly, parts of Malir were excluded and added to the Korangi district.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 30th, 2015.
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