In limbo: Five months on, LGs yet to become functional

Representatives fail to take charge as pleas against electoral procedure are pending before court

RAWALPINDI: Five months on local governments in Rawalpindi are yet to become functional as cases challenging the procedure to elect representatives on the reserved seats are still pending before the court of law.

Discussions with some elected representatives and officials revealed that the local bodies might not become functional as long as the electoral college that elects the city mayor and district council chairman, is not completed.

The election on reserved seats for non-Muslim communities and technocrats are yet to take place.

Representatives on reserved seats will be part of the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation, Rawalpindi District Council, comprising union councils (UCs) in rural areas, Murree Municipal Corporation, and municipal committees in urban areas of Taxila, Kahuta, Kotli Sattian, Kallar Syedan, and Gujar Khan.

A number of petitions have been filed in the Lahore High Court contesting the procedure to conduct elections on reserved seats. The election cannot be conducted unless the petitions are decided by the court, said a union council chairman.

Another UC chairman, an independent candidate, said that the high court would sooner or later decide the matter. The election commission will have to conduct the election soon after the order. He noted that the decision was expected to be made in 2016.

The independent UC chairman further said that Punjab government needed to allocate funds for the district councils and municipal corporations. He observed that the provincial government was not serious in empowering the local governments.

He said that the Punjab government would not allocate funds for the district councils.

It may be mentioned here that the elections for local governments in Rawalpindi were held on December 5, 2015 in the third phase. In the first two phases, elections were held in different districts on October 31 and on November 19 last year. The local representatives have taken the oath but have not assumed charges.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2016.