PPP to hold protest in Sindh to demand elections across country on same day

KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Sunday announced that it will hold a protest in Sindh on Tuesday to demand elections across the country on the same day, Geo News reported.

While announcing the protest, PPP Sindh president Nisar Khuhro said that their party will hold demonstrations at all district headquarters of Sindh, as per the report.

The call for protest comes amid the uncertainty regarding the date of elections as the government of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition has called for elections on the same day across Pakistan while the Supreme Court’s involvement in the matter is in the shape of orders for snap polls.

Khuhro said that Sindh does not accept the decision to conduct polls. He said: “Sindh doesn’t accept the decision to hold polls [to provincial and national assemblies] separately except for the one-day polls,” as per the report.

Khuhro said the polls should be held simultaneously under the Election Act, 2017. He further said: “Separate elections will be equivalent to dividing the country into two parts.”

Meanwhile, PPP leader Manzoor Wassan said he sees many people going to prison or travelling to other nations in May if important decisions were not made in April. He said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan will not become prime minister even if the general polls are conducted.

Wassan said: “Imran Khan will keep making mistake after mistake and the elections could not be held even in October.”

Last week, the Supreme Court ordered the opposition political parties to immediately reach a consensus on the date of elections and update it,” as per the news report.

The court’s decision comes as the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have said they would sit with the PTI and try to find a solution on the election date. Meanwhile, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI), which is a faction of the ruling coalition has refused to make any compromise as long as PTI is concerned.

Meanwhile, the PTI Secretary General Asad Umar on Sunday announced that the party will launch its election campaign for Punjab polls on Monday, Geo News reported.

Taking to his Twitter handle, Umar said: “Tehreek-e-Insaf will officially launch its election campaign from tomorrow. They (PDM) may not be ready but we are ready.”

Earlier this week, the PTI finalised a list of 297 candidates for the elections. Its announcement of launching the election campaign comes despite uncertainty over the polls. The PTI finalised the list of candidates after Khan interviewed all candidates in person to uphold merit in distributing party tickets.

Must Read