ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) once again decided to no further put off the second phase of the Local Government (LG) election in Sindh, which will be held on 15 January.
ECP conducted a meeting chaired by the Chief Election commissioner Sultan Raja to mull out the request of the Sindh government referred to postpone the second phase of LG polls in Sindh due to the security threats in the city.
The commission decided to hold LG polls in Karachi, Hyderabad, and Dadu by tomorrow.
During the meeting, the security plan and preparations for local government elections were reviewed, while a briefing was given on the law and order situation by the Ministry of Interior, and security agencies.
During the meeting, the Secretary of the Election Commission said that adequate security measures are being taken for the local body elections, but if they postpone the election due to concerns, they will never be able to hold the election again.
He said that the Election Commission has completed all the preparations for the local body elections, and if the elections would postponed now, it will take several months to re-organize them.
Chief Secretary Sindh issued instructions to IG Sindh that Rangers, police, and FC will be deployed at sensitive polling stations.
Provincial Election commissioner Anwar Chouhan said, Rangers will be deployed at 500 polling stations, 8 police personnel will be deployed at each sensitive polling station, and the army will be present in every district. The duration of the quick response will be 5 to 7 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry of Pakistan on Saturday decided to deploy the Frontier Constabulary (FC) instead of army contingents in the second phase of the Local Government (LG) polls in Sindh.
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