ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday issued a notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for delaying the December 31 local body elections in the federal capital.
This development came after Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir heard a plea filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) to set aside the ECP’s decision to postpone local body elections in Islamabad.
The IHC also issued a notice to Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan to assist the court in the hearing.
The petition was filed as the ECP had already delayed the elections a day before it had heard and heard all the parties involved in the matter on the order of the IHC.
A bone of contention between political parties, the ECP and the federal government is the increase in the number of union councils, which was notified by the Center earlier this month.
Today’s hearing
At the start of today’s hearing, PTI Awan’s counsel Advocate Sardar Taimur said that the Election Commission has released the schedule for the local elections of 50 USCs on June 2.
“The federal government increased the number of union councils to 101. Then, the Election Commission delayed the elections for new delimitation,” the lawyer said.
Later, the ECP released a revised schedule for the local body elections on October 22 and as per the timetable, the polls were to be held on December 21.
The lawyer said that as soon as the election preparations were completed, the federal government once again increased the number of UCIs. He added that the administrator of Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation had sent the summary for the new UC 12 days ago.
“How did the administrator get the data that the population increased without a fresh census?” He thought.
In response, Justice Tahir said that the summary of UC extension was approved within 24 hours. However, he noted that the Prosecution Act was not passed despite repeated notices from the court.
The lawyer then told the court that the government has increased the number of UCs from 101 to 125 and once the schedule is released, the number cannot be changed.
The PTI lawyer said the ECP has already spent crores of rupees and the new legislation that changed the number of UCs should be considered a “recommendation” and not a law as the President has not yet approved it. has given
After which the court issued a notice to the Attorney General and ECP and adjourned the hearing till tomorrow (December 29).
The Plea
PTI leader Ali Nawaz Awan and Jamaat-e-Islami approached the IHC earlier in the day, seeking to quash and nullify the ECP’s decision to postpone local body polls in Islamabad.
Nawaz said the order “is a violation of Article 75 (3) of the Constitution”.
He sought to set aside the notification of addition of union councils dated 19-12-2022 (issued after the announcement of the election schedule and just 11 days before the date of election, i.e. 31-12-2022). )”.
Wp …….2022 Alii Nawaz A… by Khawaja Burhan
The petitioner made the Cabinet Secretary, Interior Secretary and Election Commission of Pakistan parties in the petition.
Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, Metropolitan Corporation and District Election Commission were also made parties in the petition.
The Contention
As the local body elections were scheduled to be held on December 31, the federal government had earlier this month approved the summary of increasing the number of union councils in the federal capital from 101 to 125.
The summary states that the Administrator of Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad – Deputy Commissioner – has stated that the current number of Union Councils is 101 based on the 2017 census.
However, since the population of Islamabad has increased to 205 million in the last five years, it is appropriate to increase the number of union councils to 125.
It states that Sections 4 (1) and 6 (1) of the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015 empower the Federal Government to, by notification published in the Official Gazette, determine the number of Union Councils within Islamabad. Determine.
But after that, the Election Commission issued an order to continue the process of holding local elections in the federal capital, saying that union councils were increased in violation of the relevant law.
In its two-page order, the ECP said the government took this step without the approval of the Election Commission, which was required under Section 4(4) of the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015.
The ECP, in its order, said that the Commission would now exercise its powers under Article 140-A(2), Article 218(3), Article 219(d) and Article 220 of the Constitution to amend the operative provisions of the law. Reads along. Thus, it has been decided to continue the election process on the scheduled date.
Following the ECP’s order, the government passed the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2022 a day ago and today, it was also passed in the Senate – but so far the President has not signed it.
Then, the IHC set aside the ECP’s order to proceed with the election and asked the election body to hold a hearing and invite all the parties in the case to hear them.
After the hearing on Tuesday, the ECP decided to delay the elections. But then, PTI and JI approached the court against him.
