Local government elections on time in Balochistan

ECP says LG polls to be held as per schedule on May 29 in 32 districts, except Quetta, Lasbella

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has rejected the Balochistan government application to delay the local government elections in the province by at least six months.

The ECP reiterated that LG elections will be held as per schedule on May 29 in the 32 districts of the province with the exception of Quetta and Lasbella districts.

There are 838 union councils in these 32 districts. The number of rural wards is 5,345 while there are 914 urban wards. There are seven municipal corporation and 60 municipal committees.

On Thursday a three-member bench of ECP headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja heard the petition of Balochistan government. During the hearing the Chief Secretary Balochistan Mutahar Niaz Rana took the stance that he arrived just on a short notice and that the provincial assembly had passed a resolution to postpone the LG polls. Chief election commissioner said that there will be no delay in the LG polls in Balochistan anymore. He said that the resolution was of no importance in this regard, adding that the as per the ruling of Supreme Court the elections will be held come what may.

The lawyer of the provincial government said that the population of Balochistan was improving and therefore new demarcations were necessary on which the chief election commissioner replied that it was not a must to hold polls in a single phase.

He said that polls were delayed in all the provinces but there were some reasons for it because the notification of census was really important. The commissioner said that elections are being held as per the law and therefore there was no legal status of any resolution in this regard because the constitution doesn’t allow it.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th, 2022.