Upper House of Parliament adopts bill with 23 votes against 21
The Senate on Thursday passed the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Bill, 2015, to pave way for holding local government elections in the federal capital for the first time in history of the country.
Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control Chaudhary Nisar Ali piloted the bill as reported by Standing Committee in the House.
Opposing the bill, Senate opposition leader Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced election schedule for holding election under Draft Local Govt Act 2015 after bypassing Senate. He said that the ECP delimited the constituency under the said draft without taking the House into confidence, which was tantamount to Senate’s “disrespect”. He said that this breach of privilege was already before the privilege committee of the House. He requested the chair to defer the bill till the decision of the privilege committee.
Farhatullah Babar of Pakistan People Party (PPP) said that the bill should not be passed in haste. He said that Islamabad Capital Territory has separate status as per the Constitution adding that local government system should be introduced in the ICT keeping in view its status. He was of the view that the current bill would only devolve municipality power, sewerage and water supply to local body members. He said that it should be referred to the committee for thorough deliberation.
Mohsin Leghari of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said that a constitutional amendment should be brought to hold local bodies elections across the country like general elections. He said that local bodies elections were due in 2010 but were not held. He said that a constitutional amendment would avoid such a situation in future.
Earlier, speaking in the House, the interior minister said the government accepted all amendments proposed by the opposition despite some reservations and the Standing Committee unanimously passed the bill.
Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani said that sufficient time was provided to the members of the committee and there was no note of dissent from any member on the bill. He said that objection was not sufficient to prevent the House from adopting the bill. The chair put the bill for voting and the House adopted the motion with 23 votes against 21.