LG polls: Punjab, Sindh likely to miss another deadline

November 28 was the deadline to complete LB polls prerequisites.

ISLAMABAD:

Punjab and Sindh are once again likely to miss the January deadline for local bodies’ elections. Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had asked the two provinces to complete their prerequisites by November 28, so that the polls schedule could be notified the next day.

Thursday is the last day for both the provinces to apprise the election authorities if they had completed three basic conditions – their local government laws, local government rules and delimitations.

“Neither of the two provinces approached us by Wednesday evening. If they did not complete the prerequisites by Thursday, we would not be able to notify [polls] schedule on November 29,” an ECP official told The Express Tribune.

Earlier this month, the ECP had announced that LG polls would be held on January 18 in Sindh and on January 30 in Punjab. The official notification was to be issued on November 29.



Under the law, ECP needs notifications of delimitations from provinces and assurances that legislative work is complete before notifying the schedule for polls.

In a meeting with the ECP on November 19, all the four provinces wanted delay in the polls. However, the commission had rejected their pleas on the ground that it has given in writing proposed dates for polls in the Supreme Court.

Lingering since 2009 and after a number of missed deadlines, the Supreme Court had agreed to extend the earlier deadlines of holding polls on November 27 in Sindh and December 7 in Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2013.