Provincial govt keen on postponing local polls

It appears that the provincial government has decided to postpone the local government elections, allegedly aiming to amend laws and empower local bodies, at a time when candidates are still in the thick of campaigning for the polls.

Per information received via reliable government sources, the Sindh government is looking to make drastic changes to the local bodies prior to the elections, in pursuit of which it has also approached the court and the election commission demanding the delay.

A notification issued by the election commission of Pakistan states that the first phase of the local government polls will be held on June 26 in Sukkur, Larkana, Shaheed Benazirabad and Mirpurkhas divisions, while the second phase is scheduled to start on July 24 in Karachi, Hyderabad, and Thatta.

“The court has directed us to devolve powers and empower the local bodies. We have formed a select committee comprising lawmakers belonging to different parties. The deliberation on the select committee is still going on. So, the polls should only be held once deliberations come to an end and the law is passed,” remarked Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, adding that the last meeting of the 19-member select committee was held on Thursday. Per him, the next meeting is fixed for June 2, when MPAs from different parties would submit their amendments that would be debated, and later a comprehensive report would be submitted to the assembly with amendments to the law.

“Without the amendment to the law and empowering the local bodies the elections would not be a healthy exercise. There should be no harm if the local body polls are delayed for two or three more months. We want to devolve the functions and powers in consonance with Article 140-A of the constitution as directed by the court,” he opined.

The decision to empower the local bodies and devolve powers was made by the Supreme Court in February 2022 on the petition of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). Speaking in this regard, MQM MPA Mohammad Hussain, who has also served as a local government minister during General Parvez Musharaf’s tenure, corroborated Shah’s claims and said, “we are not in a hurry to hold the polls. The deliberations in the select committee on local bodies are in the works. We have to reach a decision about the provincial financial commission in order to distribute the funds among districts on multiple criteria, as well as empower the mayors and chairmen by giving them authority to collect the taxes.”

Per the MQM leader, almost all the political parties had serious reservations over the delimitation of the constituencies and had approached the court to fix the problems that had been highlighted. “The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government using the state machinery has made the constituencies in its favour. In Karachi and Hyderabad, a local body constituency displays a huge population against the constituency in Sindh’s rural areas. They have carved out more union councils and MPA, and MNAs seats from existing areas squeezing its population and allowing us to rely on old areas. This is not tolerable,” Hussain said adding that they have also challenged the de-limitations in the court of law and are waiting for its decision too. “With court decision, we can have more union councils in Karachi too,” he remarked.

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When asked to comment on the matter, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) General Secretary Sardar Rahim was of the view that they have already started the local bodies’ campaign; forming alliances with local independent groups and political parties against PPP, but would have no objections if the elections are delayed for the sake of amendment. “We will welcome whatever is decided by the select committee with a new law to empower the local government system,” he said adding, “In last general elections, we had formed an alliance with Sindhi nationalists, Jamiat Ulema e Islam (JUI-F), Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf and others. Now, we have fielded the candidates in all the districts against PPP making alliances with different parties and groups too.”

The tenure of the local bodies expired in August 2020 and after a gap of two years, the election commission has announced the schedule for it at the behest of the court. Provincial election commissioner Aijaz Anwer Chohan however believes that they would hold the polls as per schedule. “Nobody has approached us to delay the polls neither can we do that until we get orders from a court of law,” he said adding that all the arrangements have been finalised with the appointment of returning officers, assistant returning officers, and other officials who deal with it. “We have almost finalised the process in the areas where the first phase of the polls is scheduled, while the election process is also in its final stages of preparation. We have published the revised list of the candidates. Now, we are going to allot symbols to the contesting candidates. The final security plan is currently being devised to address the emerging law and order situation and the polling will be held on June 26.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2022.