Calling for elections: SHC issues notices to ECP, Sindh govt

Petitioner requests SHC to direct ECP to hold LG elections

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court issued notices on Monday to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), provincial election commission, Sindh government, chief secretary, local government secretary and other respondents on a petition seeking local government elections in Sindh.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi, who submitted that Article 140-A of the Constitution made it incumbent to hold local government elections in the provinces.

Naqvi claimed that the local government bodies in Sindh had completed their four-year tenures in different cities and districts, including Karachi, and the elected representatives were now illegally holding office. Despite this, he pointed out, the Sindh government and the ECP were not taking steps to hold fresh elections.

He maintained that the provincial government was delaying the elections by failing to issue a letter in this regard to the ECP, alleging that it was doing so deliberately in order to usurp the funds meant for the local government bodies.

The petitioner requested the court to direct the ECP to hold local government elections as per its mandate under the Constitution.

The bench issued notices to respondents and sought replies from them at the next hearing. It adjourned the hearing till February 7. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2020.