The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has yet again postponed local body elections in Karachi after the federal government refused to provide security personnel for the polls.
According to Express News, the decision to postpone local body elections was taken in a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja.
The huddle reviewed the Ministry of Interior’s letter in which it had expressed its inability to provide security personnel for the local government elections.
The federal government had also asked the top election authority to decide about conducting local body elections in the port city after consulting the Sindh government.
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The meeting was attended by the police chief and chief secretary of Sindh and other relevant officials.
The elections were scheduled to be held on 23rd of this month.
Last Sunday, the Sindh government had written another letter to the ECP for the postponement of the local government elections scheduled for October 23 for three months, stating that there are difficulties in providing security.
This was the third letter written by the provincial authorities this month for deferring the LG polls.
In the letter of the provincial government sent to the Election Commission, it is said that Karachi is the most populous division of Pakistan. “The population of this city is almost equal to that of the Balochistan province. It is the densest division and metropolitan city of the country so it needs extensive arrangements during elections.”
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The letter also stated that around 5,000 polling stations will be set up for the local government elections, out of which around 1,305 are classified as highly sensitive and 3,688 as sensitive due to the specific history of the city and past elections.
The security arrangements are aimed at ensuring the peaceful conduct of the elections and the restoration of law and order, it said, adding that 39,293 police personnel would be required for the local elections, of which 12,465 would be from the districts of Karachi while 10,042 personnel would be provided by the units.
It stated that there were currently 22,507 police personnel and a shortfall of 16,786 personnel.
“Before the recent floods, 14,958 police personnel were to be provided from the interior districts of Sindh. It was also planned to take up 7,150 reserve personnel to fill this gap, but after the floods, the Karachi police were required to provide additional personnel in the flood-affected districts,” the letter stated, adding that besides the services of about 7,000 private guards had to be hired before the floods.