Sindh govt again asks ECP to postpone LG polls

Cites difficulties in providing security as main reason behind request

KARACHI:

The Sindh government has written another letter to the Election Commission for the postponement of the local government elections scheduled for Oct 23 for three months, stating that there are difficulties in providing security.

This is the third letter written by the Sindh government this month for postponing the local body polls.

In the letter of the Sindh government sent to the Election Commission, it is said that Karachi is the most populous division of Pakistan. “The population of this city is almost equal to that of the Balochistan province. It is the densest division and metropolitan city of the country so it needs extensive arrangements during elections.”

The letter stated that around 5,000 polling stations will be set up for the local government elections, out of which around 1,305 are classified as highly sensitive and 3,688 as sensitive due to the specific history of the city and past elections.

The security arrangements are aimed at ensuring the peaceful conduct of the elections and the restoration of law and order, it stated, adding that 39,293 police personnel would be required for the local elections, of which 12,465 would be from the districts of Karachi while 10,042 personnel would be provided by the units.

It stated that there were currently 22,507 police personnel and a shortfall of 16,786 personnel.

“Before the recent floods, 14,958 police personnel were to be provided from the interior districts of Sindh. It was also planned to take up 7,150 reserve personnel to fill this gap, but after the floods, the Karachi police were required to provide additional personnel in the flood-affected districts,” the letter stated, adding that besides the services of about 7,000 private guards had to be hired before the floods.

The Sindh government said that it was also planned that officials from the Excise Police, Forest Department, Fisheries and Anti-encroachment Force would also participate in the local body elections. The letter said that as a large number of IDPs had shifted to different districts of Karachi, police deployment was also necessary to ensure their safety.

The letter said that flood-affected people in Malir district and its rural areas had been temporarily housed in schools, which were also proposed as polling stations. In the meantime, “efforts are being made to shift them to other places which is why we request that the local body elections in Karachi be postponed for three months so that the elections can be conducted transparently without any disturbance of law and order”.