KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Monday approved the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2014 giving the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) the authority to carry out delimitation of constituencies in the province.

The bill was tabled by Sindh's Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro and was approved with majority votes.

The authority to carry out delimitation was previously held by the provincial government.

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The Sindh Assembly also passed two more resolutions; one to congratulate Malala Yousafzai for winning the Nobel peace prize and the other to felicitate Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for holding a successful rally in Karachi on October 18.

Earlier during the day, the Supreme Court had given the Sindh and Punjab governments until October 30 to complete the legislative process authorising the ECP to carry out delimitation for LG polls.

Moreover, members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the party which pulled itself out of the province's coalition government a day earlier, staged a walkout from the assembly session after they had requested Speaker Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani to allot opposition benches to MQM lawmakers.

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The walkout was preceded by fiery speeches from Khawaja Izharul Hasan of the MQM who was critical of the PPP leadership and Sharjeel Inam Memon of the PPP who had responded to Hasan's criticism.

Previously, the apex court had warned that the provincial chief minister would be held responsible if required amendments were not made within the stipulated time.

SC gives Punjab, Sindh Oct 30 deadline for LG Bill

The Supreme Court, earlier in the day had directed Punjab and Sindh governments to complete their legislative process regarding Local Government (LG) Elections till October 30.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk and comprising Justice Ameer Haani Muslim and Justice Ejaz Chaudhry, also accepted a plea by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government seeking one month time for preliminary preparations for conducting the local bodies elections in the province while hearing a suo-moto case regarding LG elections in the country.

During the course of proceedings, Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt informed the bench that the federal government had issued two ordinances. One was regarding delimitation of constituencies and another was preparation of fresh voter lists.

He said that prerogative of delimitation of electoral districts and voting areas would be transferred from provincial government to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to enable it to carry out delimitation work for the LG polls.

Razzaq A Mirza, counsel for Punjab government, apprised the apex court that amendment bill for LG elections had been prepared which would be presented before the assembly on October 20.

Meanwhile, counsel for Sindh, Mir Qasim also informed the bench that Sindh Local Government Amendment Bill 2014 had been prepared and would be tabled in the Sindh Assembly session later today.

He said that amendment made to the Sindh Local Government Bill, name of Union Council – the basic unit of the local government election – had been changed to Union Committee.

Akram Sheikh, counsel for ECP, pleaded in a separate application that after getting power to carry out delimitation, ECP needed at least six month time to complete the whole process and then would be able to conduct elections.

The bench remarked that after completion of legislation process, the apex court could consider this application and directed Punjab and Sindh governments to complete legislation process by October 30 and adjourned the case till then– APP