RECORDER REPORT
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday directed the Ministry of Defence that it needed legislations for enabling the commission to hold local body elections in cantonment boards.
The last elections in cantonment boards were held in October 1998 and the cantonment boards have been without public representation for 14 years. Pakistan People's Party government had granted a one-year extension to 31 cantonment boards in 2012 which would expire on May 5 this year.
Following the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the ECP informed the Ministry of Defence that the commission was ready to hold elections in cantonment boards after completing necessary procedures like updating of electoral rolls, delimitation of areas and arrangements for polling stations, an official of commission said.
The Supreme Court directed the federal government to ensure that local government elections were held in all 53 cantonment boards in the country soon after expiry of the term of the existing set-up run by military officers on May 5.
The court asked the Defence Ministry's representative to withdraw the letter calling for postponement of elections. It observed that it would also look into why the local government elections had not been held in cantonments since 1999.
"The significance of the representatives of local governments becomes all the more important for ensuring good governance," observed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who heads a three-judge bench hearing the case. He said citizens could not be deprived of their fundamental rights of electing their representatives.
The federal government informed the court that the announcement of a date for LG elections was a prerogative of the ECP and soon after getting an approval from the PM the commission would be requested to make necessary arrangements for elections in the cantonment boards.
The court ordered that soon after the approval of summary by the chief executive, arrangements be made to hold the elections in all cantonment boards.
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