ISLAMABAD: Rejecting the plea of the Mutahidda Quomi Movement (MQM), the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday ruled that the local government (LG) elections in Karachi and Hyderabad would be held as per schedule on January 15.
The verdict was announced by a three-member bench of the commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja.
The ECP bench rejected the plea filed by MQM leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui seeking a delay in the local government polls in Karachi and Hyderabad and accepted the petition of Jamaat-e-Islami contesting the proposed postponement. The MQM has raised objections to the voters’ lists under which the local government elections in Karachi would be held.
The MQM-P had challenged the decision of the ECP for the prospective use of two separate electoral rolls in the local government polls simultaneously.
The CEC remarked that the MQM used to move to the courts in the past against the delimitation of the constituencies. The LG polls were going to be held using the same voters’ lists on which the MQM had already contested the 2018 elections and by-elections.
