Islamabad: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced that the second phase of the local bodies elections in Karachi and Hyderabad will be held per schedule on January 15.
The ECP turned down a petition by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), in which the party had sought the local bodies elections to be held on the new voter lists.
Headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, a three-member bench of the ECP announced its verdict today (Monday), which it had reserved on Friday.
Second phase
Last year, the ECP announced that the second phase of the local government polls in Karachi and Hyderabad would be held on July 24, 2022. However, the devastating floods of 2022 compelled the ECP to postpone the elections.
The electoral body rescheduled the LG elections for August 28, but they were put off again due to the same reason. The commission had said that most of the polling stations had been rendered inaccessible for the voters.
On October 18, 2022, the ECP rescheduled the elections for October 23, but the provincial government sought their postponement for three months because it had deployed police in the flooded areas, due to which it was unable to provide the required level of security to the polling stations.
After repeated delays, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) moved the Sindh High Court, which on November 15, 2022, instructed the ECP to announce the date for the LG elections within 15 days.
On November 22, the ECP announced January 15 as the new date.
