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The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday postponed till Aug. 28 the second phase of local body elections in Sindh, with a statement citing heavy rains forecast for the original date of July 24 and the upcoming month of Muharram as the reasons behind the delay.
According to the statement, the ECP has also delayed the by-elections for NA-245, which fell vacant after the death of Aamir Liaquat Hussain, from July 27 to Aug. 21. It said that Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja had chaired a meeting of the ECP earlier in the day and decided to postpone the polls upon receiving requests from several stakeholders, including the provincial chief secretary and the provincial election commissioner.
It said the Met Office had informed the ECP of its rain forecast in a report submitted during the meeting, adding that the provincial election commissioner had also noted that rains might affect the electoral body’s ability to conduct polls and had warned of a low voter turnout. “This decision has been made based on the report submitted by provincial election commissioner Sindh, requests from people and report submitted by the Met Office,” read the statement.
The second phase of the local government polls in Sindh was to originally take place on July 24 in 16 districts of Karachi and Hyderabad—East Karachi; West Karachi; South Karachi; Central Karachi; Malir; Korangi; Kemari; Hyderabad; Tando Mohammad Khan; Matiari; Tando Allahyar; Badin; Dadu; Jamshoro; Thatta; and Sujawal.
The Met Office, in a statement issued on Wednesday, warned that various parts of Sindh, including Karachi, were forecast to experience another spell of heavy rains from July 23-26.
The Jamaat-e-Islami and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf have both criticized the delay, with the PTI vowing to contest the decision before the Sindh High Court.