ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs was informed that the final list of constituencies would be published on September 27, 2020 for holding local bodies' elections.

The Committee met with Senator Sassui Palijo in the chair at the Parliament House on Wednesday.

The Committee discussed the issues relating to the upcoming Local Government election in the country.

While briefing the Committee, the secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said, "the preliminary list of constituencies will be prepared from July 27 to August 20, 2020, and it will be published on August 21 and objections could be submitted, which will be received by September 9 and final list will be published by September 27."

He said that thereafter, under Section 91 (1) of the Local Government Act, Punjab, the Election Commission, in consultation with the provincial government of Punjab, will announce the dates of local government elections.

However, Senator Musaddiq Masood Malik and Senator Pervez Rashid expressed concern that local bodies' election were not possible unless the provincial government made rules. They said that legislation on local government was needed.

Senator Waleed Iqbal said that it was clearly written in the Constitution that the matter was left to the provincial legislation. The secretary Election Commission informed the Committee that the principle of proportional representation had also been proposed in the Local Government Election Act, and through proportional representation, women and minority representatives would be elected at the local level.

The Committee was informed that the term of the local government in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa expired on August 28, 2019.

Their election schedule is similar to that of Punjab, which will be announced after consultation with the provincial government of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The secretary Election Commission told the Committee that the term of local government would end on August 2, 2020 in Sindh province.

However, the Sindh government has maintained the old law for local government, he said.

He said that the federal government had not published the census data.

In this regard, the Election Commission has taken up the matter with the federal government to publish the results of the 6th National Census 2017, he said.

The committee was informed that the local body in Balochistan province had ended on January 27, 2019.

The demarcations in Balochistan province were notified on January 17, 2019 but the Balochistan High Court has suspended them, and the matter is in the court, which will hear the case on August 25, 2020.

About the cantonment boards, the Committee was informed that the term of all 44 cantonment boards had expired on December 9, 2019.

However, their demarcations have been completed but the local government election schedule has been blocked due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

The Committee also discussed, "The Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (Amendment) Bill, 2020".

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020