PHC postpones second phase of LG polls

The Abbottabad bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday postponed the second phase of the local government elections in the 18 districts of K-P till the holy month of Ramazan.

The bench released an 11-page judgment. As per the decision a few days ago a local resident of Ogi Haji Muhammad Khan, Malik Aurangzeb of tehsil Palai, Muhammad Iqbal of Palas and Sardar Shafiq of Abbottabad filed a petition with PHC.

They made Chief Election Commissioner Pakistan, Chief Secretary K-P and Secretary Coordination Unit Local Government a party in the petition and took the stance that most of the Hazara Division is mountainous where snowfall occurred during winters so it is not possible for the ECP to hold elections as scheduled. They said that record snowfall has been experienced in Galyat and other parts so the elections should be postponed due to this situation.

The PHC Abbottabad bench released a written judgment on Friday in this regard. As per the judgment, the elections have been postponed till Ramazan and the election schedule has been cancelled in all 18 districts. The judgment further adds that elections are not possible due to the weather conditions as Met Office has issued a forecast of further rains and snowfall in the month of March and elections are scheduled in March.

It reads that the provincial government as well as Met Office has sent a letter to the ECP but the ECP failed to take any concrete step in this regard, adding that the ECP has failed to fulfil its responsibilities as the elections would be held mostly in mountainous districts and the petitioners have taken a stance that it is not possible for voters to go out of their homes due to the extreme cold and snow.

The weather would cause problems for the election staff too so it is not possible to held elections in the mountainous districts of the province. The bench directed the ECP to issue a suitable date for polls after the holy month of Ramazan so as to save voters from hardship due to extreme weather conditions.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2022.