The Sindh government has expressed reservations over the results of the census and apologized for holding local body elections in the province until the objections are resolved. In Sindh, the local government system came to an end in August last year, but the Sindh government always avoids holding local body elections by offering a new excuse. Not only the provincial government but also Sindh’s opposition parties are protesting against the census results in the province.
Objection of Sindh government
PPP says that the under-population of Sindh in the census is a conspiracy of the federation. Administrator Karachi and Sindh government spokesman Murtaza Wahab said that there could be no delimitation on the controversial census if the correct census is conducted, the Sindh government is ready for local elections while the Sindh government has once again rejected the census results and decided to take up the matter in Parliament, the Chief Minister will write a letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly to convene a joint sitting of the Sindh Parliament.
Excuse of opposition
Opposition parties have also rejected the results of the census in Sindh. MQM claims that the population of Karachi is more than 30 million, the city is under population pressure, the population is migrating from all over the country, its population is showing only a 60 percent increase in the last 17 years which is logical and scientific which is not possible. The population of Karachi has been deliberately understated in the census. When it is counted less, the Assembly seats will remain the same.
Importance of local elections
The local government system is said to be the backbone of the government and the beauty of democracy, where the local government system is of fundamental importance and is also called the spirit of equality. Local elections play two important roles, one of which is that they pave the way for resolving local issues of the people.
Other lower levels provide opportunities for political leadership to emerge. The third major benefit is that the decentralization of powers is eliminated and the local bodies become empowered and have financial resources, and freedom to use financial resources to solve local problems makes it easier to solve local and regional problems. Election Commission
Rejecting the news regarding the postponement of local body elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Election Commission has clarified that preparations for the local body elections are complete and the final date will be announced soon are about to happen.
Local body elections are also expected to be held in Punjab in November 2021 or March 2022, while in Sindh and Balochistan, matters related to local body elections have not been finalized yet.
The Election Commission says that the position of the provinces to postpone or postpone the local body elections is not acceptable. The case against the Sindh government will be heard from September 7. The assistance of the Chief Secretary, Secretary Local Government Connaught, Attorney General has also been sought.
Need of local elections
In developed countries, local body elections are considered as the backbone, but since the establishment of Pakistan, no political party has given much importance to the issue of local body elections and perhaps the political parties have been avoiding holding local body elections for fear of division of power. However, it is noteworthy that regular local body elections have been held during the dictatorship.
Due to the avoidance of local elections by political parties, members of the National and Provincial Assemblies are busy building streets and cleaning and other matters instead of legislating as a result, neither the legislative process is completed nor the local government issues are resolved.
Local body elections in Sindh
The Sindh government is adamant not to hold local body elections on the basis of census results, while opposition parties are in favor of local body elections despite reservations over the census. Experts believe that you can compare the results of the census by conducting a self-census in a few constituencies to check the results of the census, and if the difference is not large, there is no problem in recognizing the government results.
The census is undoubtedly a very important issue as the distribution of human resources is possible only according to the census but the Sindh government should improve matters as soon as possible to solve the basic problems of the people so that the hope of local body elections in the province can grow.
