ECP decides to hold local govt polls in Karachi, Hyderabad on Jan 15

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday has announced that local bidy government (LG) elections would take place on January 15, 2023, in Karachi and Hyderabad.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja — who headed the five-member bench, announced the verdict that the commission had reserved on November 15.

LG elections in the two divisions were originally scheduled for July 24, but have been put off thrice since then, primarily because of the Sindh government’s request that it didn’t have required police officials as they were busy with flood relief operations.

The polls were first put off to August 28, then to October 23, and then indefinitely, before the Sindh government on November 10 said it had postponed the polls on its own for 90 days prompting criticism from the PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).

Today’s development comes days after the Sindh High Court (SHC) had instructed the electoral watchdog to issue the schedule for local body elections in Karachi and Hyderabad within 15 days, adding that the polls should preferably be conducted within 60 days.