Holding the polls: ‘New delimitations may take a month’

Chances that the ECP will hold constituencies delimitation exercise afresh on the basis of the bill provisions

ISLAMABAD:

As the National Assembly voted on Wednesday to move ahead with a bill that would bring an end to the rural-urban divide in the capital, all eyes are now on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to release a fresh local bodies election schedule for Islamabad.

The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Local Government Bill 2015 in its amended form has now almost cleared all legal hurdles.

Talking to The Express Tribune, ECP spokesperson Khurshid Alam said the election body would await formal enactment and receipt of a copy of the legislation before announcing the new election schedule according to the terms of the amendments.

“There are chances that the ECP will hold constituencies’ delimitation exercise afresh on the basis of the bill’s provisions,” Alam said. As it has now been decided that the polls would be held on a party basis, the already notified 79 UCs would further be delimited to wards, he shared.

“New delimitation exercise can consume a month or so,” the spokesperson explained.

He said the ECP had withdrawn all notifications issued previously to hold the LG elections on July 25 on the direction of the Supreme Court.

Now the whole exercise, including submission of fresh nomination papers from candidates, would be carried out afresh, he said.

Transfer of assets and liabilities

Meanwhile, both the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration have submitted final lists containing details of assets and liabilities which will be transferred to the proposed local government in Islamabad with a committee headed by special assistant to the prime minister Barrister Zafarullah Khan.

The committee was formed to ensure smooth transition of functions from the CDA and ICT to local bodies.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2015.