The Peshawar High Court’s directive to hold the local council elections on party basis is a shot in the arm for political evolution and democracy. By terming non-partisan voting as unconstitutional, the learned bench has brought to the fore an inherent psyche of representative rule and, in fact, empowered the political process. The notion of non-party elections, nonetheless, is a legacy of authoritarian governance, and comes as a negation to the voice of the people on perceptual and ideological lines. Though the proposed village council elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will be stalled for the time being, it will, however, bounce back with dividends to the fragile political order.
This decree has once again underlined the indispensability of local bodies. It is only by empowering grassroots representatives that a culture of responsible development and devolution of powers could be ensured. Moreover, if the same are marshalled on political lines, they go a long way in eulogising the ideals of respective political parties and coherently articulate their views in all walks of national life. This is why Europe, being the bastion of democracy, underpinned the inviolable role of local bodies, and erected a pyramid structure of powers and duties.
It is ironic that political parties in Pakistan are averse to grass-root level representation. During the last two decades, local councils were either held in abeyance or never existed at all. This is an antithesis of developmental economics. K-P had done a great job by empowering local bodies’ structure, but the adventure to stall them through an ordinance in 2019 was in bad taste. This stands reversed by the PHC ruling. Similarly, Punjab took to brinkmanship by prematurely dissolving the local tiers only to be restored on the top court orders early this year. Likewise, Karachi struggles to redefine its pride under local governance, as it is superimposed with bureaucratic wheeling-dealing.
It’s high time the local government system was revived in all honesty, and the tiers on village, union council, tehsils and district levels were mushroomed with power and privilege. This process of decentralisation and holding of the purse by local representatives will usher in prosperity and communal harmony.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 4th, 2021.
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