The Sindh government Monday requested the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to postpone the second phase of local government (LG) polls in the province for the third time, citing the shortage of personnel to provide security during polling, Aaj News reported.
The second phase of the local body elections in Sindh was originally scheduled to take place in July, but the ECP postponed the polling due to rains and flood situation in the province.
In the letter to the ECP, the Sindh government maintained that police personnel were engaged in rescue and relief work in the flood-hit districts of the province and were not available for security in the local government elections.
“The enormous shortfall of manpower required for Local Govt elections phase 2 cannot be met without deployment of the police force from interior Sindh which is unavailable for three months due to flood relief activities,” the provincial government informed the election commission while quoting police chief’s summary.
ECP schedules Karachi local bodies elections for October 23
The report said Karachi police currently have 23,000 policemen and for the peaceful conduct of LG elections in the second phase, there is a need for 39,000 cops.
Mentioning that the police has asked for a postponement of three months, the Sindh government urged the ECP to coordinate with relevant authorities.
It may be noted that the Sindh High Court (SHC) has sought a written reply from the ECP on the petitions filed by Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against the delay in holding the second phase of local government (LG) polls in Sindh by October 25.
Last month, the ECP announced that the local bodies elections in all seven districts of Karachi will be held on October 23.
“The dates for local bodies elections in nine districts of Hyderabad will be announced later,” the ECP said in a statement.
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