PPP to stage protests in Sindh to demand same day elections to national, provincial assemblies

• "Sindh doesn't accept the decision to hold polls separately," Khuhro says.
• Adds elections should be conducted simultaneously under the Election Act.
• "State of emergency may also be imposed in country if polls are postponed."

As the polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) apparently face a delay, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Sunday announced that it would hold a protest across Sindh on Tuesday (April 25) to demand elections across the country on the same day.

PPP Sindh President Nisar Khuhro, while announcing the protest, said that the party would stage demonstrations in all district headquarters of the province.

"Sindh doesn't accept the decision to hold polls [to provincial and national assemblies] separately except for the one-day polls," he said.

Khuhro said that the elections should be conducted simultaneously under the Election Act.

“Separate elections will be equivalent to dividing the country into two parts,” he added.

Meanwhile, PPP leader Manzoor Wassan said that he sees many people going to jail or abroad in May if important decisions were not made in April.

A state of emergency may also be imposed in the country if the elections are postponed, he added.

Wassan further said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan will not become the prime minister even if the general elections are held.

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

He said that his party is ready for the polls whether it is held in August or October.

The call for protest comes amid the existing uncertainty regarding the date of the polls as the ruling coalition demands elections on the same day across the country while the Supreme Court's involvement in the matter is in the shape of orders for snap polls.

The top court last week directed the opposition political parties to immediately thrash out a consensus on the date of elections and update it, as the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) assured it that they would sit with the PTI and try to find a solution on the election date via a dialogue.

However, a faction of the ruling coalition, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam refuses to make any compromise as long as PTI is concerned.