ISLAMABAD - The Election Commission of Pakistan has proposed to hold the Local Government elections in Sindh and Punjab in phases.
According to the proposal, submitted earlier to the Supreme Court yesterday, in the first phase the elections would be held in both the provinces on November 14, the second phase would be on November 29 and the last phase-III would be December 19.
The elections in these provinces were to be held on 26th September this year but due to floods the ECP, Punjab and Sindh now wanted the polls in three phases.
This was the fourth time since September 2013 that the new dates have been suggested for local government elections. In September 2013 the ECP proposed election on 27th November in Punjab and December 7, 2013 in Sindh, but later these dates were changed and new dates were fixed for Sindh 18-01-2014 instead of December 7 and 30-01-2014 for Punjab.
The new proposal suggests that in the first phase, LG polls will be held in 12 districts of Punjab including Lodhran, Vehari, Okara, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Toba Tek Singh Sargodha, Kasir, Nankana Sahib, Gujrat, Rawalpindi and Attock and 8 districts of Sindh including Sakkur, Ghotki, Khaipur, Larkana, Qamber Shahadkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Kashmore.
In the second phase, this exercise would be done in another 12 districts of Punjab including Khanewal, Sahiwal, Faisalabad, Chinot, Khushab, Mianwali, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Chakwal and Jhelum. In Sindh, the commission proposed 14 districts including Shaheed Benazirabad, Nosherho Feroze, Dadu, Matari, Jamshoro, Tando Allahyar, Tando Muhammad Khan, Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, Umerkot, Tharparkar, Sanghar and Mirpurkhas.
In the last phase, the commission suggested LG elections in 12 districts of Punjab, including Pakpattan, Layyah, Rajjan Pur, D. G Khan, Muzzaffargarh, Jhang, Bhakkar, Lahore, Sialkot, Narowal, R.Y Khan and Multan, while in Sindh the areas for elections included Karachi West, Karachi East, Karachi South, Karachi Central, Korangi Malir and Hyderabad.
The ECP in its report states that it may exclude/include any district falls in first, second and third phase at the request of the provincial government.
The three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, will give its ruling about the proposal today.