KARACHI: A bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Saturday approved the request to immediately hear a petition concerning local government elections in Sindh moved by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).
The petition was filed by PTI lawmakers Haleem Adil Sheikh and Firdous Shamim Naqvi, among others.
The court issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the provincial government, the Local Government secretary and others. it also summoned written responses from the parties by May 9.
The PTI has filed a petition in the high court challenging the schedule issued by the commission for the polls.
In its plea, the party requested the SHC to suspend the ECP schedule regarding the elections and order the electoral body for amendments to Sindh LG laws in light of the Supreme Court decision.
“ECP April 14 notification regarding local government polls in Sindh is illegal and in clear violation of apex court ruling on Sindh LG Act 2013,” the party further contended in the petition.
It is pertinent to mention here that the ECP on April 20 announced the schedule of the first phase of local government polls in Sindh.
The local council elections will be held on June 26, the election commission announced.
The result of the first phase of the local bodies’ elections in Sindh will be announced on June 30.
