LG polls in Islamabad: PML-N defends ECP’s decision
- PML-N leadership says they respect the court’s orders but holding the polls overnight was not possible
ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), on Saturday, defended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision of not abiding by the Islamabad High Court’s verdict to hold local government elections in the federal capital on a “short notice”.
Talking to reporters after filing an intra-court appeal against the IHC’s order, senior PML-N leader Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said that they respect the court’s orders, but holding the polls “overnight” was not possible.
Under the Election Act, he added that determining the number of union councils is the responsibility of the federal government.
Defending the ECP’s decision not to hold the polls on Saturday, he said that it was virtually impossible for the government to mobilise the staff and material in less than 24 hours.
He said the target of mobilising at least 30,000 personnel and the delivery of election materials alone was difficult to meet. He added that at least 25,000 election staff had to be moved to man the polling stations which was not possible, that too on a weekend,
The PML-N leader maintained that most of the staff comprised school teachers under the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), which are currently on winter vacation. He further maintained that his party was not afraid of going into the polls, adding that it was PML-N’s government during which previous local government elections were hold in the federal capital.
He pointed out that the metropolitan organisation set up under the previous electoral process had completed its tenure in January 2021 when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was in power.
He asked as to why did the PTI government not hold local government polls in Islamabad for over a year.
He said that that elections in 101 Union Councils were due to be held in Islamabad, adding that in the bill recently passed by Parliament, the number of UCs in the federal capital were increased to 125 to reflect the increase in the capital city’s population.
He insisted that the new constituencies need to be formed and delimited before the polls. However, he lamented that President Dr Arif Alvi has been “sitting on the bill” and refusing to sign it into law. He said that the new bill proposes a new mechanism that allows for the direct election of the city’s mayor, unlike the indirect electoral process in the existing law.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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