KARACHI:The leader of opposition in Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Sheikh on Tuesday rejected what he called the ‘fraudulent’ first phase of local government polls in Sindh and announced to challenge them in the Supreme Court.

Addressing a press conference in Sindh Assembly, he said the Election Commission of Pakistan conducted LG polls in Sindh. He said it was the verdict of the Supreme Court that local government polls should be held in Sindh after legislation under Article 140. Haleem said the slogan of free and fair elections were murdered by using government machinery. He said candidates were selected through poll rigging. He said: “We reject the first phase of LG polls in Sindh and we will go to the Supreme Court to get it cancelled.” He said in presence of the sitting Election Commissioner, they would not accept any election.

Haleem said the armed forces had played a vital role in defense of Pakistan and they were proud of their armed forces. He said if someone had committed a mistake, it needed to be corrected. Haleem prayed for the early recovery of MQM leader Kanwar Naveed. He said: “Our relationship with all people is good. We are sorry for the MQM. We tried our best to convince them.”

He said the MQM had left them due to price hike. He said Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto would take stand for the rights of the nation and country, but the present leaders of their party lacked courage.

Haleem said that in the past, some great leaders would sit in Sindh Assembly but now people of small status sit there. He said previous day during his five hours long speech in Sindh Assembly, he pointed out corruption in all departments of Sindh government.

He said for the first time in history of Pakistan he was not allowed to speak on budget and the budget was got passed. Haleem said previous day, he exposed the corruption of past 140 years in Sindh. He said one and half hour after his speech, the session was started and Sindh government got approved additional Rs93 billion grant for different departments under supplementary expenses.

He said for current year, the Sindh government got more than Rs37billion from PTI federal government. He said on June 30, 2021, there was cash and carry balance of Rs85bn and now in current year, there is cash and carry balance of Rs72bn. He said last year the Sindh government spent 50 percent less from development funds. He said Rs222bn were tagged for development funds and Rs179bn were actually spent.

He said that during last 14 years, Rs10,389bn were spent in budget head and Rs8414bn for non-development expenses. He said during last 13 years, a corruption of Rs1400 billion was committed. He said the report of the Auditor General showed a corruption of Rs700 billion in development budget.

Haleem said: “The imported government has opened floodgates of price hike. Previous day NEPRA allowed hike of Rs8 per unit in electricity. Petrol and diesel have gone costlier. Dollar is hiked. The wheat flour price has gone up from Rs55 to Rs100 per kilogramme. The imported slave government has pushed the poor masses into deep price hike.”