KARACHI: While the Sindh Local Government Elections are fast approaching, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday brought together media and civil society of Karachi under one roof and convened a dialogue for an inclusive election process.
The event, held at a local hotel, saw overwhelming participation from the media, civil society, transgender community, youth representatives, minorities, and people with different abilities, who put forward their recommendations to the ECP for free, fair and transparent elections in the province.
The provincial election commissioner (PEC) Sindh Ijaz Anwar Chohan and Director Head Quarters Pervez Ahmed were amongst the event panellists while Quratul Ain Director MCO, ECP moderated the event.
In his detailed presentation, Pervez Ahmad highlighted the role of media in educating and motivating masses including women, transgender, minorities and persons with disabilities regarding electoral process and their active participation.
He said there are one Metropolitan Corporation, five Municipal Corporations, 45 Town Committees, 36 Municipal Committees, 143 Town Committees, 22 District Committees, 1119 union Councils, and some 486 Union Committees in Sindh under the local government act.
He said the delimitation of local government constituencies has been completed. Preliminary list of delimitation was published on February 16, 2022, and the final list of constituencies was published on March 24, 2022. Local government election is being held in light of the voter list of last general elections.
Pervez said the LG elections in the province are being held in two phases. In the first phase, the polls will be held in 14 districts of four divisions i.e Sukkur, Larkana, Mirpurkhas, and Shaheed Benazirabad. While in the 2nd phase, the elections will be held in 16 districts of 2 divisions – Hyderabad and Karachi.
He said a total of 30 district returning officers (DROs), 396 returning officers (ROs), and Assistant Returning Officers 792 (AROs) would perform their duties during the elections in the province.
Some 14 district returning officers, 224 returning officers, and 448 Assistant Returning Officers will be de deputed in the first phase, while 16 DRO’s, 172 ROs, and 344 ARO’s will be deputed in the 2nd phase of elections.
The ECP has taken steps to ensure smooth elections. It has collected data of transgender and persons with disabilities. Postal ballot paper facility is also being given to person who can’t travel due to any disability.
A representative from transgender community appraised the PEC about their issues. She said despite meetings with the ECP, a number of transgender people were not issued their national identity cards. “How can we be able to take part in the election process without ID cards,” she said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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