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Thursday, December 05, 2013
‘LG elections in Sindh illegal without govt’s consultation’Staff Report
KARACHI: Sindh Information and Local Government Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon on Wednesday said it was clearly defined under section 34/2 of the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013 that the schedule for conducting LG elections in the province would be decided by the provincial government with consultation of the Provincial Election Commission of Sindh.
In a statement, he said any announcement made by the provincial election commission on its own would be tantamount to working in violation to the SLGA 2013, which the elected Provincial Assembly of Sindh had passed with majority of votes.
The minister said the Sindh government wanted to conduct local bodies’ polls in the province in a very transparent, free and fair atmosphere. Hence, it is imperative that no haste should be manifested in conducting the upcoming polls in the province and should be allowed to be conducted in March.
He urged that the local body polls should be conducted on a similar date in Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa, Punjab and Sindh and the provincial chapters of the election commissions should ensure provisioning and utilisation of the magnetic ink, corrected voters’ lists and enlistment of voters.
Memon said it was not only difficult but impossible to conduct local bodies’ polls on January 18 this year and thus it was unavoidable that the provincial election commission of Sindh should conduct LG polls on a date to be given by the Sindh government.
The provincial government has a clear intention that the LG polls should be held in free, fair and transparent manners so that the powers should be devolved to the grass root level, he added.
The information minister said it was the responsibility of the provincial election commission to ensure provisioning of required measures for holding of the local body polls while it was the privilege of the provincial government to ensure a safe and comfortable atmosphere to the voters and required support to the provincial election commission.
He demanded the Provincial Election Commission of Sindh to reschedule the LG polls as the provincial election commissions of Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa and Punjab had not yet finalised the schedule. The provincial election commission of Sindh should take measures for conducting local body polls on a same date in all three provinces, he concluded.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk