Khuhro urges ECP to immediately announce poll date

Sindh Pakistan Peoples Party President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro has said that concerns have been growing among the political quarters due to the delay on the part of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce the date for the next general elections in the country.

Speaking to media persons here on Wednesday, he said the delay in announcing the date for elections was tantamount to committing injustice to the countrymen. “It is has become imperative that the situation of uncertainty should be ended for the people of Pakistan by announcing the poll date,” he said.

To a question, the PPP leader said there was no restriction on any political party to contest the upcoming general elections as all the parties were free to take part in the polls. He said the ECP had come up with its decision that it was not going to conduct the polls within the 90-day limitation given in the constitution.

He said Sindh was being dealt with in a discriminatory manner as the ECP had ordered the authorities in the province to stop disbursal of development funds after August 15. He claimed that there was no such restriction in the rest of the three provinces despite having caretaker governments for conducting the polls.

Khuhro said the funds for development schemes duly included in the Sindh government’s budget had been withheld. “Such a show of double standards should end. Injustice shouldn’t be done in the case of the province, which accounts for up to 65 per cent of revenue generated in the country.”

The PPP leader said the ECP shouldn’t unduly delay the conduct of general elections when the results of the latest digital census were not going to change the number of seats in any assembly. He told media persons that the countrymen didn’t want any delay in the polls. “The Election Commission should fulfil the obligation of conducting the polls at the earliest.” Khuhro said the ECP could finalise the delimitation work in less than two months.