IMC officials seek stay on mayoral polls

ISLAMABAD:

Deputy mayors of the federal capital will have to wait to find out if they can put the brakes on the process to elect a new mayor for the city.

Deputy mayors of the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) who had contested on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) tickets, had filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), urging the court to halt the electoral process as they wished to file nomination papers for the mayoral polls.

On Thursday, a single-member bench of the IHC, comprising Justice Mian Hasan Gul Aurengzaib, heard the petition filed by the deputy mayors.

Sardar Taimur Aslam, the petitioner’s counsel, told the court that the list issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had reduced the electoral college from 79 to 73.

Further, he said that on December 4, the eligibility list issued by ECP for contesting in the mayor’s election did not include names of the deputy mayors.

Contending that Friday, December 11 was the last day to file nomination papers, the lawyer sought a stay order from the bench to either pause the elections or permit the deputy mayors to submit their nomination forms for the polls after December 11.

The bench said that a similar petition was set for hearing before the bench of Justice Amir Farooq and the petitioners should put their arguments before it.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2020.