Sindh’s LG polls to be held in phases

Karachi
The three phases for conducting local bodies polls beginning from October 31 have been decided on the basis of administrative divisions, the Sindh Chief Secretary Muhammad Siddique Memon was informed at a meeting on Monday.
In his briefing at the meeting, Sindh Election Commissioner Tanveer Zaki said in the first phase on October 31, local government election will be held in Sukkur and Larkana divisions.
In the second phase on November 19, polling will be held in Shaheed Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas and Hyderabad divisions. The third phase of polling will be on December 3 in Karachi division.
On the occasion, the chief secretary directed the divisional commissioner and the zonal DIGs of the Sindh Police to extend all possible cooperation to the Sindh Election Commission for ensuring local government election according to the new schedule.
In this regard, the secretaries of finance, education and local government departments were directed to discharge their duties to the best of their abilities.
The education secretary will depute a focal person to coordinate with the provincial election commission while the local government elections are conducted.
The local government department will establish a control room for maintaining close liaison with officials of the election commission for holding the polls at the office of Sindh IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali. Law and order situation during the polls will be monitored from the control room.
The chief secretary directed the officials concerned to extend all possible cooperation to the law-enforcement agencies to enable them to maintain peace during the local bodies election.
The province comprises a total of 29 districts, out of which one is declared as metropolitan corporation, six district municipal corporations, three municipal corporations, 37 municipal committees, 151 town committees, 24 district councils, 1,137 union councils and 553 union committees (in municipal corporations and district municipal corporations).
A total of 29 district returning officers, 316 returning officers, 551 assistant returning officers, 16,601 presiding officers, 108,216 assistant presiding officers and 54,108 polling officers will be deputed for election duties. Meanwhile, the local government minister Syed Nasir Hussain in a statement issued on Monday said the government would only act as a facilitator for holding the local government elections.
He said it was the responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to do the rest.
The minister said the government would have no objection at all if the ECP decided to hold the polls either under the supervision of Pakistan Army, Rangers or any other law-enforcement agency since the provincial government will continue discharging its duties as a facilitator in the process.
Moreover, the senior information minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said the Pakistan People’s Party will not abandon the political fray of local government election, irrespective of whether the ECP members resigned.
However, he said, this did not mean that the objections raised by political parties would no more be valid.