The Supreme Court on Monday directed all provincial governments and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration to complete their legal preparations with respect to local bodies elections by August 15. It further added that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should have the elections arranged by September 15.
“Governments of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and ICT administration are allowed to complete the process of promulgating new laws and initiate the delimitation process to ensure early holding of local bodies elections,” said a three-judge Supreme court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
The bench comprised Justice Jawwad S Khwaja and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed. It observed that the elections need to be held in order to enable the general public to participate in good governance.
Director General Elections ECP, Sher Afgan apprised the bench of the legal requirement which states that the commission needs to be given at least 90 days to hold elections after provincial government’s request.
Afgan said that in normal course the ECP needed 60 days to hold general elections while in the case of assemblies dissolving, they would require 90 days.
However, Advocate General Punjab Mustafa Ramday said that the provincial government only needed between two to three weeks.
AG Sindh Khalid Javaid said that Sindh government would also be prepared but opined that it would be better if they were given time till December 31, 2013. The governments of Balochistan and K-P had given their consents earlier and sought a definite date from the ECP.
Deputy Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti representing ICT administration said the federal government was ready to hold LB polls in the rural areas of the capital but needed amendments in local government act 1979 to hold elections in urban areas of Islamabad.
LG elections once law and order improves in Karachi: Qaim
Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah said on Monday that local government (LG) elections would be held in the province once the security situation of Karachi improved. “We have asked the Supreme Court of Pakistan for six months time to hold the elections,” said Shah, adding that peace could only be achieved through the joint efforts of the federal and provincial governments. Shah said the meeting with Minister of Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was fruitful. Khan visited Karachi on Monday for a briefing on the security situation in Karachi.
