The Election Commission of Pakistan is going to hold the local government elections in Karachi and Hyderabad tomorrow (Jan 15) despite the disagreement by the Sindh government and the MQM, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday.  

The electioneering for the second phase of the LG polls in Sindh has ended today. However, despite all the assurances by the ECP regarding holding of elections tomorrow, doubts still persist. 

The Sindh government has completed all the preparations in this regard. The government and private schools in both the divisions have been turned into polling stations. The polling staff and police are present there as the polling material is being dispatched to these stations from the DRO Office. The dispatching of the material will be completed by 5pm today.

The Election Commission once again asked for the services of Army personnel and Rangers for the elections. 

The ECP secretary wrote a letter to the federal government requesting it to deploy Rangers at sensitive polling stations. 

However, the GHQ declined the static deployment of its troops and Rangers at the polling stations in Karachi, Hyderabad and Thatta.

The interior ministry informed ECP Secretary Umar Hameed about the GHQ reply that it could not spare its troop for static deployment in such a large number. The GHQ informed the interior ministry that on first level, it was the responsibility of the province to make arrangements for the static deployment. 

The GHQ further told the interior ministry to ask the election commission to pinpoint 500 sensitive polling stations and the static deployment of Rangers at these 500 polling stations could be possible. 

 

Reporters Azad Nehrio and Usman Khan