Pushing it further: Sindh asks SC to allow LG elections on Dec 7

The petition reiterates the govt’s commitment to honour the court’s ruling to hold elections as soon as possible.

KARACHI:

The Sindh government has approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan to seek an extension in the deadline to hold local bodies elections in the province.

It claimed that various administrative and electoral problems have come up and it needs the extra time to take care of those before it holds the elections. The government made this request by filing a petition with the apex court’s Karachi registry on Friday.

Sindh advocate general Khalid Javed Khan, who filed the plea, submitted that the provincial government had initially proposed December 23 for the upcoming local government elections in the province in compliance with the orders passed by the Supreme Court. It then proposed November 27 as the new date after the apex court had directed the elections be held in November. Subsequently, the apex court had directed the other provinces to specify the dates on which they can hold the elections. Balochistan and Punjab proposed December 7 and the court accepted their dates.

Reasons for delay

The advocate general, Khalid Javed Khan, tried his best to ensure the court does not doubt Sindh’s commitment to hold the local government elections.



In his petition, he said Sindh will stand by its earlier submission and will honour the court in holding the elections as soon as possible. “Some serious problems have arisen that have forced the Sindh government to submit a request to allow local government elections in Sindh [to be held] by December 7 along with other provinces, instead of November 7,” he said.

The process of delimitation of the constituencies was initiated with full vigour in the province and was carried out at full speed despite the week-long Eid holidays, Khan mentioned, adding that the redrawing of the boundaries has been completed, but the appellate proceedings could not be completed before November 13. “Any further reduction of time in this gargantuan task would have resulted in completely arbitrary delimitations,” he said.

The election commission issued the schedule for Sindh on November 6, according to which the process of the election would begin with effect from November 9, Khan pointed out. The ECP was, in fact, constrained to do so due to Muharram holidays that fall on November 14 and 15.

Stakeholders’ apprehensions

The advocate general informed that a large number of representative groups, including the Ahl-e-Tashi community, have also expressed their reservations to chief minister Qaim Ali Shah and requested the government move an application to adjourn the election date in the province.

“Other logistical problems are also being faced by the election commission that, like the Sindh government, is fully committed to honour the apex court’s orders, sparing no efforts to comply with the same,” Khan’s petition read.

The government said it had taken lead in honouring the court orders compared to other provinces, including enacting the local government legislation and giving a date for the upcoming elections without any reservations.

AG Khan maintained that the Sindh government once again reiterates its commitment to its constitutional obligations under article 140A of the Constitution.

He pleaded the court allow the government extension till December 7.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th,2013.