Punjab, Sindh seek further delay in LG polls

Sindh proposes March next year while Punjab says it will issue poll schedule by November this year.

ISLAMABAD: While Balochistan has completed all three phases of local government (LG) elections, the matter doesn’t appear to figure on the priority list of the two key provinces as Sindh seeks to delay the polls for another year while Punjab is trying to drag the issue till November this year.

In a meeting held on Friday at the headquarters of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), representatives of the two provinces remained noncommittal on a definite timeframe for holding LG elections.

The meeting was convened by the ECP to seek a tentative schedule for LG polls from the three provinces that have not conducted the exercise since 2009. The ECP is supposed to submit this schedule before the Supreme Court on February 12 when the top court will take up the matter.

Sources said that the representatives of Sindh and Punjab told the meeting that there were complications in delimitation of constituencies for local councils. They said that since there had been no census in the country since 1998, they were facing difficulties in delimiting constituencies.

“Usually one census block for the LG delimitation comprises 200-250 households, but in Sindh sometimes one building houses 500 family units,” the Sindh chief secretary was quoted as telling the meeting. However, he said Sindh could be ready for the LG polls by March next year.

Similarly, Punjab’s local government secretary told the meeting that his province was undecided on the use of the projected population data or 1998 census to mark new census blocks for the next LG polls. This, he claimed, would take some time and Punjab could hold the polls by year-end.

When the ECP insisted for a specific date, the Punjab representative said the schedule should be around November this year. The ECP asked both the provinces to give this in writing so that the commission’s counsel could submit the same before the Supreme Court.

After the meeting, ECP’s Acting Secretary Sher Afgan told journalists that LG elections could be held in Punjab by November this year. “The elections, however, can only take place once the Punjab government hands over data regarding delimitation of certain districts,” he added.

Out of 36 districts, the Punjab government has so far handed over maps and related data of 29 districts. It has given partial data of six other districts but the main issue is with Lahore, the largest city and provincial capital.

According to the Sindh representative, the province will gear up for LG polls by March 2016, Afgan said. “The Sindh government is yet to amend laws relating to LG polls as proposed by the ECP.”

However, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) representative told the meeting that the province had completed prerequisites for LG polls and would be ready to hold the elections by May this year.

Representatives of cantonment boards also attended the meeting and told the ECP that they have sent an ordinance regarding LG polls to the federal law ministry and were waiting for a response.

The main hurdle in holding LG polls is holding fresh delimitations. The Supreme Court had assigned the ECP the task to conduct delimitations after the Sindh and Lahore high courts scrapped the exercise carried out by the provincial governments in 2013.

“We will be submitting the tentative dates before the Supreme Court. But these will be subject to fulfillment of all prerequisites,” said Afgan.

The LG polls have been postponed several times in the past and many deadlines given by the Supreme Court lapsed as the provinces failed to fulfill their commitments.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2015.