KARACHI: Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Sunday said that all arrangements to conduct the Local Government (LG) elections have been completed in the province as per directives of the Supreme Court.
He was chairing a meeting about holding of local government elections in the province.
The meeting was attended among others by Provincial Ministers Syed Owais Muzaffar, Sharjeel Memon, Dr Sikandar Mandhro, Sindh Chief Secretary Muhammad Aijaz Chaudhary, Secretary Local Government Ali Ahmed Lund and Advocate General Sindh Khalid Javaid Khan.
Shah said Sindh was the first province which passed a bill about the local government (Sindh Local Govt Act-2013) and fulfilled all requirements for holding of local bodies elections as per directives of the apex court.
He said that it was the Election Commission’s responsibility now to conduct the polls at the earliest, adding the Sindh government was ready to provide full assistance to the ECP in this regards.
The meeting expressed satisfaction over the arrangements regarding LG elections made by the Sindh government.
The chief minister directed the officers of local government and revenue department to complete the process of delimitation before the expiry of commitment made in the court.
He also directed the secretary local government to conduct a pilot project at district level about the delimitation and LBs elections.
The Sindh government has already extended the deadline by another week for the completion of the first phase of fresh delimitation, which is aimed at defining constituencies and units for the upcoming local government elections.
Voicing concerns over the development, a senior leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Saturday hinted at approaching a court of law against the process.
Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, who is also a member of the national assembly from the city, said that even members of the Sindh cabinet were not clear about the delimitation process, which was currently under way across the province.
“We are working on it [delimitation] too carefully and we will be sharing its details with you [the media] soon,” he said in response to a question as to how he saw the delimitation process, which was already opposed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional.
