High court orders: Govt to appeal 90-day LG poll deadline

According to the SC hundreds of thousands of bogus votes were entered in the old voter list.

SUKKUR: The Sindh government will challenge the high court’s order to hold local body elections in 90 days, declared Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah on Sunday.

He claimed that 90 days were not enough to make the arrangements and he made it clear that the elections would be held under the law of 1979.

On May 18, the Sindh High Court has ordered the government to hold local government elections in 90 days.

The system, introduced in 2001 by Pervez Musharraf, expired legally in 2009. Since then Sindh’s cities have been run by administrators and not elected representatives or nazims.

The Pakistan Peoples Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement have not been able to reach a final agreement on which system to use. The PPP wants a system of commissioners (1979), a legacy of British rule, and the MQM favours the Musharraf set-up from 2001, which it argues gives more power at the grass roots level.

Shah said that the Pakistan Peoples Party was not afraid of holding general elections and it was the duty of the judiciary and election commission of Pakistan to make arrangements.

So far, the apex court has not mentioned whether the general elections will be held under the old or new voter lists.

According to the Supreme Court, hundreds of thousands of bogus votes were entered in the old voter list.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2012.