• IHC annulled ECP order to postpone LG elections
• Court ordered to conduct polls on Dec 31
• Federal govt had increased number of Union Councils in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has instructed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold local government elections in the capital on December 31.

A single-member bench headed by Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir accepted the petitions of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) against the ECP’s decision to postpone the local government elections.

The court nullified the ECP’s decision and ordered to conduct the municipal elections in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) as scheduled on Dec 31.

The election commission had delayed the polls after the federal government increased the number of union councils (UCs) in the capital. The court expressed displeasure over the federal government’s attitude and voiced its reservations over the waste of money if the polls were not held on time.

During the hearing on Friday, Additional Attorney-General of Pakistan Munawar Iqbal Dogal told the court that federal government and ECP officials held a meeting over the matter. He said no official response was given due to the shortage of time.

The court expressed displease over the federal government’s incompetence and failure to provide a response to a petition. The AAG said the response cannot be provided without approval from the Ministry of Law and Justice.

The presiding judge questioned the reason for increasing the number of union councils days before the polls. AAG replied that prerogative to conduct elections lies with the government. The court asked how many times has this power been exercised in 2022. The AAG replied power has been exercised twice this year.

PTI leader Ali Nawaz Awan and Jamaat-e-Islami moved the IHC seeking to quash the ECP’s decision to postpone local government elections in Islamabad.

The petitioner made the cabinet secretary, the interior secretary and the Election Commission of Pakistan parties to the petition. Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, Metropolitan Corporation and District Election Commission were also made respondents.

The federal government had earlier this month approved a summary to increase the number of union councils of the federal capital from existing 101 to 125.

The summary stated that the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad administrator has said that the present number of union councils is based on the 2017 census.

However, the population of Islamabad increased to 205 million in the last five years and, therefore, it is appropriate that the number of union councils may be enhanced to 125.

The government also passed the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2022 but is has not been signed by the president.

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