ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has asked all the winners of the recently-held local government (LG) elections in Sindh as independent candidates to join a political party of their choice within seven days.
In a statement, the ECP said that the independent winners must align themselves with a political party by May 24, thereby fostering greater collaboration and strengthening the political landscape at the local government level.
According to the Sindh Local Government Act 2015, the Election Commission requires the winning candidates to formally inform them of their decision to join a political party.
Additionally, the leader of the party that the independent candidate chooses to join must also notify the ECP about the candidate’s affiliation. To comply with this requirement, the independent candidate needs to submit an affidavit stating their intention to join a specific party.
This letter, containing the affidavit, must reach the Commission’s office within seven days of the official announcement of the election results. Under local government Act-2013, each political party shall submit separate priority list of their candidates for each category, with the returning officer on or before May 24, 2023.
It is to mention here that Pakistan People’s Party was leading with 98 Union Council seats after it won seven seats out of 11 Union Councils in Karachi during local government by-polls.
According to the party position released by the ECP, the results of Karachi’s 240 UCs out of a total of 246 have been released while the results of six UCs have been withheld by the ECP. Pakistan People’s Party has emerged as the single largest party by security 98 UCs, Jamaat-e-Islami secured 87 seats, while Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf remained third with 43 UC seats. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz grabbed 7 seats, JUI-F won three seats, TLP and independent candidate emerged victorious in two UCs each.
