Local bodies elections: Candidates for local government polls allowed only 72 hours to campaign

Political parties claim transparent polls not possible due to lack of time.

KARACHI: Political parties in Sindh have expressed concern over the election schedule of the local bodies’ elections which was announced by the provincial election commission on Wednesday.

According to the schedule, the submission of nomination forms will start on November 9 while the final list of candidates will be issued on November 23. This means that the candidates will have merely 72 hours to campaign.

Leaders of different political parties have termed the elections ‘meaningless’, claiming there will be widespread “rigging” due to the lack of preparation. “The delimitation process is still going on. We do not know the territorial limits of our areas. It will be a joke with the candidates to give them only 72 hours for campaigning. We demand of the election commission and the apex court to revisit the decision,” said Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz leader, MPA Irfanullah Marwat. “If the elections are held in haste, it will not be sustainable and could well lead to a law and order situation.”



According to the provincial election commission officials, they have expressed these concerns before the Supreme Court but can not overrule the court’s directives.

“We have limited time but are ready to hold the elections,” the provincial election commissioner SM Tariq Qadri told The Express Tribune.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Taj Haider claimed that the haste in which the LG elections are being held will cause it to break all records of rigging in the May 11 elections.

“The election commission has claimed that they cannot print the ballot papers in the given time. The apex court, however, insists that they do it.” He was of the view that though the elections were meant to be contested on party basis, no one was heeding the concerns of the political parties. “We need at least two months to conduct the election otherwise it will be a futile exercise.”

Leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League - Functional (PML-F) were on the same page as their counterparts. The party’s secretary general, Imtiaz Sheikh, alleged that the provincial government had already started pre-poll rigging by altering the constituencies in favour of the ruling PPP.

“It is not possible to conduct free and fair elections under these circumstances,” he said, adding that many members of his party had challenged the ongoing delimitation process in the court and were awaiting the verdict. “Holding the LG elections without proper and fair delimitation will be yet another blunder.”

Meanwhile, the coordination committee of the Sindh government, set with the task of finalising the arrangement of local government elections, has expressed its concern over the election commission’s schedule for the polls.

A meeting of the committee was held under the charge of information minister, Sharjeel Inam Memon, who now also has the charge of the local government portfolio.

“The delimitation process is still under way and the election commission has announced the schedule. This has made the task of Sindh government even more challenging,” he said. The committee, however, vowed to complete all required arrangements and ensure that the local bodies’ polls are held as per directives of the apex court.

Korangi district

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Haider Abbas Rizvi has said that his party is prepared for the local government elections despite their concerns over the delimitation process and the formation of the new district.

He was speaking about the decision of the provincial government to carve out Korangi from District East and form a separate district, the sixth one in the city. Rizvi said that they were also concerned about the merger of Keamari area into District South as the district was the financial hub of the city.

The following needs to be done before the LG polls:

Nov 9                Invitation to submit nomination papers

Nov 11-12         Review of nomination papers

Nov 13              Objections to nomination papers

Nov 16-17         Scrutiny of nomination papers

Nov 18-19         Appeals against rejection of nomination papers

Nov 20-21         Disposal of appeals

Nov 22              Last date for withdrawal of candidature

Nov 23              Final list of candidates to be issued

Nov 27              Elections to be held

Nov 30              Results announced

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th,2013.