ISLAMABAD: The first-ever local government elections in the urban areas of Islamabad may not be happening on July 25, as originally planned.

Given the uncertainty surrounding the fate of a bill pending before the Senate, the Supreme Court has reluctantly allowed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to notify a new schedule for the polls if it becomes necessary due to a delay in the passage of the bill.

“The ECP may notify a revised schedule for the elections if this becomes necessary on account of delays in parliament,” said an order dictated by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja after a hearing in his chambers, which was also attended by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Justice Maqbool Baqar and Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt.

ECP official says slightest change in LG law can delay preparations by up to eight weeks

Before the hearing, a three-judge Supreme Court bench had taken up an ECP application, seeking directions to the federal government to expedite the passage of the bill and frame the rules enabling the commission to hold local government elections in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

The Supreme Court order came two days after Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani ruled that the entire process – carried out so far by the ECP on the Supreme Court’s orders – was without lawful authority and an attempt to “hinder parliament in performing its duty to legislate”.

The ruling came following severe criticism of the ECP and the court by senators from across party lines, for initiating the election process without waiting for the passage of the bill.

“Only the final act will determine the commission’s strategy, but it will be a great achievement if we even manage to hold the elections in October,” said a senior ECP officer, on condition of anonymity. The officer was involved in the conduct of the 2013 general elections as well as the recent local government elections in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Given the experience in KP, the ECP’s entire focus is on making sure the local government elections in Sindh and Punjab are held in a well-organised manner, he explained.

But the existing election schedule for Islamabad will definitely have to be cancelled and, in case, the Senate decrees the polls will be held on party-basis, fresh nominations will have to be sought on the basis of party affiliation and the new forms will then have to be scrutinised afresh, he said.

Explaining further, he said that currently, six councillors were to be elected on the general seats to each of the 79 union councils. If the elections are to be held on a party basis, then it will mean that every political party will field six candidates in each union council, in addition to independent aspirants.

This will make the ballot paper more crowded, since it may contain a minimum of 50 candidates on each ballot paper along with their election symbols, he said.

The ECP will be left with no choice but to divide each union council into six wards, he said, adding it may look like an easy solution but the exercise would require fresh delimitation – an arduous task that takes between six to eight weeks to complete, because the people’s complaints also have to be addressed.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, when the case was taken up by the Supreme Court in the morning, Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman told the court that a meeting was in progress in the office of the AG to discuss when the local government elections were possible.

Prime Minister’s Adviser Ashtar Ausaf, Interior Secretary Shahid Khan and representatives of the ECP and the ICT administration also attended the meeting.

At around 12 noon, the bench decided to hold the hearing in their chambers. During the hearing, the AG explained that the bill before the Senate had passed the committee stage on June 30.

The proposed legislation has been placed in the current session of the upper house on July 6 and there is every reason to believe that the Senate would put the matter to rest in the current week, the AG said.

In its order, the court said the reason for its concern was that the citizens of Islamabad were still waiting for local government elections to be held, as the last such polls were held in ICT in 1992, but only in the rural areas.

“Needless to say, in view of the fact that the expected legislation is not as yet in place,” the court noted and observed that the Local Government Bill was passed by the National Assembly on March 26, 2015 and has been pending before the Senate since.

The case will now be taken up on Aug 3, when the court will consider the possibility of holding local government elections in the capital city under already-existing legislation.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2015

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