Millions of people expected to vote as Sindh holds local government polls in 14 districts

KARACHI: After a court dismissed a request from major political parties to postpone local government elections in Sindh last week, nearly 10 million people are expected to vote for their preferred candidates in fourteen districts of the southeastern province on Sunday.
Elections in other districts, including Karachi and Hyderabad, will be held in the second phase that is scheduled to take place on July 24.
The local government elections are taking place with a two-year gap after several protests and legal battles.
According to a statement issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), 8,724 polling stations have been established in 14 districts of the province where more than 10.14 million registered voters are expected to participate in the exercise.
The election regulatory authority has also declared 1,985 polling stations as most sensitive, 3,448 as sensitive, and 3,291 as normal. As per the information by the ECP, 26,545 Sindh police personnel have been deployed to ensure peaceful elections. Additionally, 2,980 police and paramilitary rangers have been deployed at highly sensitive polling stations.
“The election commission has instructed the provincial administration of Sindh to ensure peaceful voting process by bringing in security personnel from other districts and deploying them where elections are taking place,” said Saeed Soomro, the ECP spokesperson in the province.
He added the election commission was also in touch with the army and rangers who had ensured it of their full cooperation.
The local government elections were delayed in the province after the federal government failed to publish results of the 2017 census, halting the delimitation process which was one of the requirements for the electoral contest.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had gone to the Sindh High Court with a plea to defer elections, saying it was important to make changes to the local government act and carry out a fresh delimitation process.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf also became party to the case and sought election postponement.
The court was informed that the provincial government had already submitted its statement before the court and all political parties had agreed to postpone these polls until the enactment of local government laws in line with Article 140-A of the constitution.
The court dismissed the petition and ordered to hold elections on scheduled time.