The second phase of the local government elections in Sindh, scheduled to take place on Sunday, July 24, has been postponed and will now occur on August 18, a spokesperson of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) confirmed on Wednesday. Earlier, sources privy to the development had told a private TV channel that an ECP meeting, chaired by chief election commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja, had decided to postpone the second phase of the local body polls after it received requests from the MQM-P, GDA, chief secretary Sindh, and provincial election commissioner. The ECP spokesperson said that the polls had been postponed due to the rain forecast made by the Met Office. This decision has been taken based on the report submitted by provincial election Commissioner Sindh, requests of the people and report submitted by the Met Office,” said the spokesperson. The ECP also announced that it has postponed the NA-245 by-polls, which were to take place on July 27, for the same reasons. The by-polls will now take place on August 21. The second phase of the local government polls was to take place in the 16 districts of Karachi and Hyderabad division on July 24. There are seven districts in the Karachi division – East, West, South, Central, Malir, Korangi and Keamari – and nine districts in the Hyderabad division, which include districts Hyderabad, Tando Mohammad Khan, Matiari, Tando Allahyar, Badin, Dadu, Jamshoro, Thatta and Sujawal. The by-polls on the NA-245 were scheduled to take place on July 27 as the seat had fallen vacant after the death of PTI MNA Aamir Liaquat Hussain.