• A five-member commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner conducted hearing on the issue of LG elections in Karachi.
• Administrator Karachi Murtaza Wahab said elections were postponed twice due to floods and even today water is still standing in 25 to 30 percent of the places.
• Member Ikramullah Khan asked that how can the cabinet use the authority of the Election Commission.

ISLAMABAD: The Chief Election Commissioner has said that it is the authority of the Election Commission to announce the date of local government elections and Sindh government cannot reduce the power of the commission under the law.

A five-member commission chaired by the Chief Election Commissioner conducted a hearing on the issue of local government elections in Karachi.

During the hearing, Waseem Akhtar appeared on behalf of Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) Pakistan, while Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman appeared on behalf of Jamaat-e-Islami(JI), Murtaza Wahab appeared on behalf of Pakistan People’s Party(PPP).

During the hearing,  Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal said that the Election Commission was supposed to hold government elections on July 24, but the LG elections in Karachi and Hyderabad were postponed twice, which were done at the request of the provincial government.

He said that the Ministry of Interior apologized for the deployment of armed force personnel on October 18 and the municipal elections in Karachi were continuously postponed due to floods.

He said that on November 1, the Sindh government has again requested to postpone the LG elections in Karachi and the Sindh Cabinet has approved the postponement of the elections for 90 days, on which notices have been issued to PTI, People’s Party, Jamaat-e-Islami and MQM.

Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal said that the Election Commission is ready to hold LG elections in Karachi and the Supreme Court has said that elections can be held in two phases in Karachi.

Joint Secretary Interior Ministry Mohammad Ramzan Malik appeared and said that the Ministry of Interior provides security in the second tier while police personnel are deployed in the first tier, but they cannot be provided due to flood and law and order situation.

On this occasion, the Administrator Karachi Murtaza Wahab presented his view and said that there are many seats in LG elections, but the first phase of elections in Sindh has been completed and 4,900 polling stations to be established for local elections in Karachi. It is ready to be done in two phases.

He said that the elections were postponed twice due to floods and even today water is still standing in 25 to 30 percent of the places.

On this occasion, member Ikramullah Khan asked that how can the cabinet use the authority of the Election Commission. In response to which Murtaza Wahab said that according to the Sindh law, the Sindh government has the mandate to announce the elections.

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The Chief Election Commissioner said that the provincial governments never want to hold LG elections, but the Election Commission has to conduct elections within 120 days.

Later, the Election Commission has reserved its decision regarding LG elections in Karachi.