Opposition parties in Sindh have said they are sceptical the January 15 local government elections in Karachi, Hyderabad, and Thatta will be held properly.

“The chief secretary and law enforcement agencies should ensure that the LG elections are held on January 15. The Sindh government should ensure all the arrangements,” the country’s top electoral authority said on Monday after rejecting the MQM-P’s petition asking for fresh delimitation or constituency boundary lines to be redrawn. The MQM-P felt that the old map favoured its rivals.

It argues that “fake delimitation” would deprive a quarter of the population of urban Sindh of real representation.

Here are the concerns and views of the main contenders of the LG elections:

They want the Rangers, army at polling stations

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Jamaat-e-Islami have demanded the ECP deploy the army and Rangers at all polling stations in order to ensure transparency in the vote.

The party, which became famous for its slogan ‘hal sirf Jamaat-e-Islami’, stressed that the ECP should ensure this happens under Article 220 (executive authorities to assist Commission, etc) of the Constitution.

“If the army was deployed across the country in the 2018 general elections, then why not in three divisions of Sindh,” JI’s Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said. “There are no normal polling stations in Karachi.”

His concern was voiced after the ECP’s Sindh spokesperson announced that the Rangers and army would be deployed at “sensitive” polling stations.

Citing “reliable sources”, senior PTI leader Ali Zaidi claimed that the ruling PPP and some other political parties could use the state machinery, resort to violence, and create chaos to harass voters to deter them from voting.

“This all is being so that they [PPP] can rig the results, as they cannot defeat the PTI in a free and fair election. This is the responsibility of the law enforcement agencies to ensure impartial elections,” he told reporters on Monday.

“We have already approached the ECP, requesting it to declare all polling stations in Karachi and Hyderabad sensitive so that the deployment of the army and Rangers inside and outside each polling station can be assured,” he said.

He demanded that every polling station in Karachi should be declared “sensitive”.

Transparency

The JI has written separate letters to the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Interior to maintain law and order situation in the three divisions.

“If there is a provision we will write a letter to the army chief. We will ask them via the ministries. It is the Constitutional responsibility of the ECP and the government continues the democratic process and facilitation is the job of every institution,” Hafiz Naeemur Rehman of the JI said.

He was of the view that doubts start to appear when institutions “do not perform” such duties. Institutions should remain apolitical, he said, however, this does not mean that they say they won’t do their job during an election out of fear of being accused of impartiality.

He said that he did not think anyone would be able to accuse the army and Rangers personnel of interfering in the democratic process if they were controlling outbreaks of violence. You are accused of interference when you try to tamper with the results.

Political maneuvering

The JI has expressed concerns over political maneuvering by Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori. The religious party believes that the businessman-turned-politician should distance himself from the elections.

“Now is the time we should refrain from such politics,” Rehman said while coining the term “Tessori-Zardari” doctrine on the political developments to ensure the required vote bank.

‘Fair’ delimitation

The MQM-P has claimed that unfair delimitation was done before the election and their voter lists were changed.

“There is an option of the boycott but we will not leave an open field for anyone,” MQM-P’s Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said at a press conference.

The party called an “emergency meeting” on Tuesday to discuss its plans of protest outside the ECP Office on January 11. The Pak Sarzameen Party and Farooq Sattar group have extended their support.

Sources told Aaj News that the party was mulling over options to convert the protest demonstration into a sit-in to be continued in all districts.

‘All set’ for PPP?

The PPP has claimed that the next mayor of Karachi would be elected from its party as they have “delivered” what they promised in the past.

“Except in a few places, the PPP has fielded its candidates on every seat in Karachi. There are many UCs on which we are fielding a joint candidate. So the PPP is taking part in this poll,” PPP’s Saeed Ghani said last week.

“Hopefully, the PPP will be able to have its mayor in Karachi,” he said.