The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday announced postponement of the local bodies by-election, schedule to be held on November 17. A high-level meeting held at the ECP decided to postpone the by-elections on 380 vacant seats of local bodies in view of Balochistan earthquake and deteriorating law and order situation.
New date will be announced later. In a statement, ECP Secretary Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad said that due to law and order situation and commencement of Haj season, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) has postponed the indirect bye-elections to the vacant seats in the Zila/city/district/tehsil/town councils in respect of Punjab, Sindh and NWFP.
It was learnt that three provinces, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan have asked the federal government to hold back the local bodies by-polls. Polls had already been postponed in Balochistan after October 29 earthquake.