South Carolina seeks 2002 LG poll notification from AG

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the federation to explain reasons behind expected delay in holding local body (LB) polls in the capital despite court orders and make it clear whether Local Bodies (LB) elections would be held or not on July 25 despite court orders.

The Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Babar Yaqoob Fateh Malik, while appearing before the court submitted that they were ready to hold the polls in the federal capital.

The sources said that if polls are held on party bases, then each union council will be divided into six wards while each ward will contain one general seat. “Is the federal government here only to play games?” However, he said that the Senate session would approve legislation in this regard.

Justice Khawaja questioned why only the people of Islamabad being deprived of the local government polls.

The Deputy Attorney General said that without issuance of notifications the election process could not be reliable in the eyes of law.

Justice Azmat further said the court is not concerned with the timeline of the legislation.

The hearing of the case was adjourned till Wednesday. A constitution amendment bill seeking constitutional cover for the implementation of the local government system across the country was submitted in the Senate on Tuesday. The learned justice observed that all other bills are being given priority in the Parliament except for the law on the local government elections.

Introduced by State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House also passed the Federal Employees Benevolent Fund and Group Insurance (First and Second Amendment) Bills and the Capital University of Science and Technology Bill, 2015. It further demands that the residents of the ICT and the cantonments be able to enjoy their constitutional rights of devolution of political, administrative and financial authority from their local elected representatives, similar to the residents of provinces.

The additional attorney general apprised the court that it was not possible that the instant bill could be passed before Eid.