Sindh to hold LG polls in next 4-5 months: Saeed Ghani

KARACHI: Sindh Information and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani has claimed that the delayed new local government elections in the province will be held in the next four to five months.

Talking to media persons after inaugurating a furniture exhibition at the Karachi Expo Centre here on Friday, the provincial information minister said that holding the local government elections was the responsibility of the Sindh government.

Ghani, however, maintained that the Sindh government should not be blamed for delays as the federal government was tasked to hold a census in the country and the Sindh government’s case regarding the controversial census results was pending with the parliament.

He said after the census, it had become necessary to carry out fresh delimitations for the elections but that could not happen due to controversial results of the census. Ghani said that the Election Commission of Pakistan had issued directives to hold the local government polls in the province at the earliest. “We are expeditiously doing the working and have started the legislative work.

The approval from the (Sindh) assembly is necessary for the new delimitations of constituencies,” he said. Ghani recalled that the Supreme Court had also given directives for conducting fresh delimitations for the (local government) elections.

He said the Sindh government has prepared a draft amendment (local government) law for fresh delimitations. He said the amendment would determine the population size of different units of the local government system in the province.

He recalled that the Sindh government had previously allowed the elected local government representatives in the province to complete their lawful term. Answering a question, the information minister said although the price control was the domain of the Sindh government but it couldn’t do much due to an unprecedented hike in the fuel prices. He also criticised the federal government for impending natural gas crisis in winters that among other cities would also affect the residents of Karachi.