PESHAWAR: Holding of local government polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa seems impossible in the next couple of months as so far the government has not taken the required steps for the purpose, according to sources.

They said that the government so far did not frame delimitation rules for holding the polls.

The government could not hold elections within the stipulated 120 days since the expiry of the last elected local bodies on August 28, 2019.

Official sources said that there was no possibility of holding polls in the near future.

However, Provincial Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai told Dawn that the government desired to start electoral process in March.

He said that till that time all legal formalities would be fulfilled.

Former nazim says govt yet to frame rules for delimitation

“The elections have been delayed as some parts of the province are snowbound,” he said.

The failure of government to hold local bodies’ elections is in violation of Elections Act, 2017, according to which fresh elections should be conducted within 120 days after dissolution of the last setup.

Section 219 (4) of the Elections Act, 2017 states that the Commission (Election Commission of Pakistan) shall hold elections to the local governments within 120 days of the expiry of the term of the local governments of a province, cantonment and Islamabad capital territory.

Since the expiry of the tenure of the previous local bodies’ tenure, 130 days passed but still there was no chance of holding elections in the near future as the provincial government was not prepared to approach the electorate because of the economic crises in the country and unprecedented price hike, sources said.

“It is violation of Elections Act, 2017 and provincial government has failed to approach Election Commission of Pakistan to hold elections within 120 days after the expiry of the previous local government tenure,” an official of ECP told Dawn.

As per procedure, he said, the provincial government would request ECP for holding local bodies’ election before fulfilling all legal formalities.

The official said that before holding elections, delimitation of the councils should be carried out by ECP as it was mandatory but framing rules for the delimitation and elections was the responsibility of the provincial government.

Sources said that the local government department proposed rules for delimitation of the councils a few months ago that were still pending with the minister concerned.

The minister would send the rules for delimitation to the chief minister for approval before putting them to the provincial cabinet for approval.

Local Council Association provincial president Himayatullah Mayar told Dawn that not holding local bodies’ elections in the stipulated time was not only violation of Elections Act, 2017 but it was also violation of the Constitution.

He said that government was violating Article 140-A of Constitution that stated “each province shall, by law, establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of the local governments.”

Mr Mayar, who is also former district nazim of Mardan, said that provincial government was dragging its feet on the elections as it was yet to frame rules for the delimitation.

“Actually the provincial government wants to utilise billions of local bodies’ funds through its MPAs instead of local government representatives,” he said.

It is worth to mention here that the share of the local bodies under the provincial finance commission award is Rs46 billion in the current financial year.

In the absence of the local bodies, it is most likely that the provincial government would spend this huge amount through its MPAs.

The LCA president demanded of the government to conduct the local bodies’ elections as soon as possible in the larger public interest.

He said that provincial government deprived people of their local government representatives.

He also demanded of the authorities to hold the elections for the village and neighbourhood council on party basis.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2020