HYDERABAD: The Acting Governor Sindh Nisar Ahmed Khoro has said the parliament was empowered to amend the constitution.

“Making amendments in the constitution is a right vested with the elected representatives who are sitting in the assemblies,” he said while talking to the media on Tuesday.

Talking about the bill about dual nationality and contempt of court amendments, Khuhro said it was the parliament which had the authority to legislate the laws.

“We (the government) have passed a law in the Parliament not imposed any arbitrary ordinance as was done by the previous regimes,” he observed.

In reply to a question about holding the local government elections, the acting governor said that the LG elections would be held once the verified voter lists were available.

“We don't want that one voter list is used in the LG elections and a different one in the general elections,” he said. He noted that though the 1979 LG model was in place at present and that the people and their elected representatives had also experienced the 2001 LG system, which was introduced by a military ruler, both the laws needed reforms. “Both of them have their shortcomings which have to be addressed,” he added.

Khuhro stressed that the need was to ensure that the LG elections were conducted in a way that no stakeholder had complaints against the system.

“It is owing to this reason that we are taking time to ensure that we reach complete consensus with the coalition partners and the major political parties in the province on the subject,” he added.

He said that a new Chief Election Commissioner of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was being appointed with the consensus of the opposition political party in the assembly and expressed hope that soon one would take the charge.