Sindh government has urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to postpone the local body elections (LG Polls) in the metropolis citing a lack of security personnel in the city.
According to the letter written by the Sindh government to the ECP, the government has urged to postpone the LG polls in Karachi for three months. Free and fair polls cannot be held without proper security, the government argued.
The letter read that Karachi is the most populous division of the country with a population bigger than Balochistan. At least 5,000 polling stations would be established to hold the LG polls, requiring at least 39,000 security personnel to maintain law and order.
While the government only has 22,507 personnel at hand to deploy for the LG polls, it added. They are 1,305 extremely sensitive and 3,688 sensitive polling stations in the city, the letter read.
Thousands of Karachi police personnel are providing assistance in flood-relief operations in other districts of the province. Moreover, many internally displaced people have moved to Karachi, and personnel is required to provide them security too, it added.
Earlier on October 10, the Sindh government suggested the ECP hold local government polls in Karachi in two phases.
“The government has given this proposal owing to deployment of police contingents in the flood-hit areas,” sources said.
