As government and opposition parties are vying for electoral reforms, legal fraternity has come up with an idea to do away with the joint candidacy of chairman and vice chairman in local government polls.
The existing rules of the election commission say that the fate of both chairman and vice chairman is linked to each other.
Besides, the EC rules, the Lahore High Court had in one instance, also ruled that “Joint candidates have to sail and sink together.”
The critics however dub this rule as irrational as in case of the death of the either, the seats of both chairman and deputy chairman would be declared vacant.
In this context, Shafeeq Gujjar Advocate opined that there should be an amendment in local government elections and in next elections both the chairman and vice chairman should contest elections separately.
Barrister Masroor Shah, talking to this agency, said that there are flaws in existing law and it should be amended for next LG elections. He also claimed that by amending local government law, money and time of the people could be saved.
Barrister Afzal Hussain, disagreed with other legal experts and said that the wisdom behind the joint elections of the chairman and vice chairman of UC the LG elections is that they function together and there should not be any hurdles created by either of the two in smooth functioning of the union council.
It is pertinent to mention here that recently a Vice Chairman in the District Mianwali died and now what would be the fate of incumbent chairman.