Local councils: SHC holds order on allocation of reserved seats to political parties

Asks relevant parties to submit comments within three days

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) reserved on Wednesday its judgment regarding political parties' share of reserved seats in Shikarpur, Badin and Malir district councils.

Till then, the two judges have restrained the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from calculating and announcing the share of political parties in seats reserved for women, youth, labourer or peasants and non-Muslim candidates in these district councils. Headed by Justice Nadeem Akhtar, the division bench directed the relevant parties to submit comments within three days and the order will be announced later.

On Tuesday, the bench had suspended the ECP's notification regarding calculation of seats and its announcement, while hearing the petition filed by a group of candidates. The petitioners had independently contested and won the recent local government elections for membership of Shikarpur district council.

On May 4, the ECP had announced the schedule for election to fill the indirect seats in various local councils, as required under Section 18-A of the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013. The petitioners' lawyer, Haider Waheed, said the ECP had clearly notified that only political parties were eligible for the allotment of reserved seats and such allocation would disenfranchise the independent candidates and their voters.

Therefore, the petitioners later informed the commission that they are going to join Pakistan Muslim League - Functional. However, the ECP disallowed them from doing so, stating that the elected candidates could join any political party within seven days of the publication of their names in the official gazette, in light of Rule 42(A) of Sindh Local Government (Election) Rules, 2015.

Waheed argued that under Section 33 of the local government act, an independent candidate can join any political party at any time. Therefore, Rule 42(A), being a subordinate law, was not binding on the petitioners. The lawyer pleaded the court to declare the rule illegal.

Sindh assistant advocate-general, Mukesh Kumar, argued that as per rule 42(A), the candidate has to join a political party within seven days of issuance of his victory notification by the ECP. This is the right of the candidate but the petitioners have failed to utilise their right, he added. Kumar added the petitioners cannot be allowed to join political parties at this stage, as it will result in 'horse-trading'.

Opposing the plea, Kumar pleaded the court dismiss the petition. After hearing arguments, the bench extended its previous order, suspending the ECP notification till May 26.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2016.