JI moves SC for holding LG polls

The Jamaat-e-Islami’s Karachi chapter on Wednesday filed an application with the Supreme Court seeking the implementation of the top court’s order to hold local government elections in the city.

JI city chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman and Karachi Public Aid Committee President Saifuddin Advocate requested the court to direct the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce the final date for holding immediate LG polls in the city so that the residents can exercise their constitutional right of vote to elect the local bodies.

They said the ECP and the Sindh government had violated the order of the SC by thrice deferring the holding of LG elections in the city. They said the ECP and the provincial government had violated the law and the constitution by depriving the residents of their due right to have an elected local government. They also said the top court had passed a very clear order on August 17 to hold LG polls in the city on August 28, but despite the SC order, elections were postponed thrice since then and were yet to be held.

The JI leaders said in the application that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government in Sindh had avoided holding the polls because of rains, then because of the flood-affected people and for a third time on the pretext of a shortage of police personnel.

They said that the tenure of the local government bodies in the city had ended in August 2020, and the residents had been kept deprived of a local bodies set-up since then. They added that the PPP government in the province has also appointed a political administrator for the city in defiance of all codes of conduct as the political administrator continued discharging duties despite the announcement of fresh polls. The JI leaders requested the top court to direct the ECP to conduct the local bodies elections according to the requirement of the constitution and the law.