The Sindh government on Monday approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the verdict of Sindh High Court in which Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was directed to conduct the elections for the representatives of local governments in the province through secret balloting. Farooq H Naik on behalf of the Sindh government filed the petition in the Apex court's Karachi registry questioning SHC verdict announced last week on the identical petitions filed by Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F).
Earlier, on 10th February, SHC bench, headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi SHC directed ECP to conduct the elections of mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen and vice chairmen in Sindh through secret balloting. MQM and PML-F had requested the court to annul the Fourth amendment in Sindh Local Government Bill 2013, which bind the members to cast their votes by showing their hands instead of secret voting for electing mayors and deputy mayors.
The amendment is the violation of Article 266 of Pakistan's constitution which allows secret polling. Constitution states that all election, except those of prime minister and chief minister shall be held through secret balloting; therefore any procedure holds for electing Local Government (LG) representatives by showing hands will be against the constitution, they added.
Pakistan People's Party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Jamaat-e-Islami who had joined the proceeding later by filing intervener petitions, submitted there is suspicion of rigging, if the elections for the mayor and other local government slots are held through the secret balloting. The rigging chances will be terminated through the show of hands, they submitted.
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