ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday put off indefinitely the local government elections scheduled to be held on Oct 23 in Karachi division.

The decision to defer the polls for the third time was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja. It came hours after the federal government’s refusal to provide security for 5,000 ‘sensitive and highly sensitive” polling stations.

The LG polls were due to be held in seven districts of Karachi division — East, West, South, Central, Korangi, Keamari and Malir. The ECP did not give schedule for holding LG polls in nine districts of Hyderabad division because of flood situation.

A day earlier, the ECP has asked the interior ministry whether it can arrange security for the Karachi LG polls after the Sindh government conveyed that it was short of 16,000 policemen.

ECP puts off polls for third time as interior ministry refuses to provide security for 5,000 polling stations; NA-45 by-poll on 30th

In a letter sent to ECP secretary Omar Hamid Khan, the ministry stated that the matter for deployment of Rangers) and army troops on static mode was taken up with the GHQ.

“In response, GHQ has stated that…..respective provincial home departments are responsible for providing requisite troops/ police component for 1st tier response/ static deployment at polling stations while civil armed forces (CAF) and Pakistan Army can only provide Quick Reaction Forces (QRFs) for 2nd and 3rd tier response, respectively”, reads the interior ministry’s letter, a copy of which is available with Dawn.

“Given their other commitments with respect to border duties and ongoing flood relief operations, the required 16786 troops of CAF and Pakistan Army for static deployment as 1st tier response cannot be made available. CAF and Pakistan Army troops can however, be made available for deployment in QRF mode and 2nd/3rd tier responders as already in practice. It is requested that Election Commission may decide on the subject matter in consultation with Government of Sindh,” it said.

On Tuesday, the ECP discussed the issue at length and decided to put off the LG polls.

The meeting noted that in the given circumstances, the ECP had no option but to postpone the local government elections in Karachi, stressing that the peaceful conduct of elections and the protection of voters was its top priority.

It decided to meet again after 15 days to get a feedback from the provincial government and law enforcement agencies so that the local government elections in Karachi should be held as soon as possible.

The polls were originally scheduled for July 24 but the ECP postponed the elections till August 28 in view of forecast of heavy rain. It again deferred the elections on August 24 due to rains and risk of urban flooding. On Sept 14, the ECP gave Oct 23 as the date of polling for LG polls in Karachi division alone.

Recently, the Sindh government had approached the ECP stating that around 5,000 polling stations would be set up for the local government elections, out of which around 1,305 were classified as ‘highly sensitive’ and 3,688 as ‘sensitive’ due to the specific history of the city and past elections.

It said 39,293 policemen would be required for the elections. It stated that there were currently 22,507 police personnel and a shortfall of 16,786 personnel.

NA-45 by-poll on 30th

The ECP also decided that the by-election on a National Assembly constituency in Kurram, NA-45, will be held on Oct 30.

It said necessary instructions had been issued in this regard to institutions to complete their arrangements.

The by-election was originally scheduled for Oct 16 but postponed due to the law and order situation in the constituency.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2022