LB polls delays

Supreme Court has set down September 2015 as the deadline for these polls to be held in Punjab and Sindh

For what seems to be the umpteenth time, the Supreme Court has demanded that local bodies (LB) polls, as laid down in the Constitution, be held across the country. This time, hearing on March 4, a contempt of court petition regarding the conduct of LB polls in cantonment areas, it has set down September 2015 as the deadline for these polls to be held in Punjab and Sindh. After hurling the ball back and forth between themselves and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which the Attorney General said was the body responsible for conducting elections, officials had put before a three-member apex Court bench a schedule under which Sindh and Punjab would begin the conduct of the poll process in early 2016. This was, however, rejected by the Court and polling in the country’s two largest provinces was ordered before the end of the current year. A schedule for this has been demanded by the Court, which made it clear that it would tolerate no further foot-dragging on an issue that affects the basic rights of all people, denying them the local level governance they need.

As the Supreme Court bench pointed out, the delay is inexplicable given that Balochistan has already completed the LB polls process, while Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is to begin it soon. If the two smaller provinces, with fewer resources, can manage this, there is no explanation as to why the others cannot. The reasons that have been put forward so far by the AG and the ECP — with the registration of four million new voters in Punjab and Sindh cited as one — do not appear to be particularly convincing. When there is a will, the logistics can be managed, and it is this will that needs to be found. The Supreme Court has done well to lay down a time frame and make it clear that it will not tolerate further delays. Such action will be welcomed by most and also drive home to the authorities the urgent need to finish a process that has been kept pending for far too long, ignoring constitutional dictates and the rights of the people.

Published in The Express Tribune, March  6^th,  2015.

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