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The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday rejected a plea from the federal government to delay by-polls for the national and provincial assemblies, as well as local body elections in Karachi, though it postponed by-polls in NA-45 over a concerning law and order situation.
After the decision, local government elections in Karachi would take place on Oct. 23, as notified earlier, while by-elections for eight seats of the National Assembly—NA-22; NA-24; NA-31; NA-108; NA-118; NA-237; NA-239; NA-157—and three provincial assembly seats—PP-139; PP-241; PP-209—would take place on Oct. 16.
According to a statement issued by the ECP, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja chaired the meeting that deliberated on the government’s plea for a 90-day delay of polls, stressing that the elections should be conducted peacefully. It said that ECP Secretary Omar Hamid Khan had informed the meeting all arrangements for the polls had been completed, but had acknowledged the difficulty of ensuring a peaceful environment after provincial governments and law enforcement agencies had warned of an inability to provide their services due to this year’s floods and a threatened long march on Islamabad by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Last week, the federal government—through the Interior Ministry—had urged the electoral watchdog to delay the by-polls for up to 90 days, as the provincial governments and security forces were participating in flood relief, rescue, and rehabilitation operations. In its letter, the ministry had warned that the prevailing conditions made it very difficult to ensure security for polling stations, adding that it could lead to the credibility of the by-polls being questioned.
The Interior Ministry had also alleged that a “political party”—a reference to the PTI—was planning to “besiege” Islamabad between Oct. 12 and Oct. 17, which would coincide with the by-polls to be held on Oct. 16. This, it had stressed, would necessitate the maximum deployment of all available troops in the federal capital to maintain peace. The by-polls have already been delayed once; they were originally set to take place in September but were delayed due to flooding.
Earlier, the Sindh government had likewise requested a similar delay to local body elections, which had been rejected by the ECP. The local body polls in Karachi have already been delayed twice; they were initially set to take place on July 24 but were postponed due to the floods in Sindh.