Number of UCs slashed in Pindi
Traffic snarls on roads in Rawalpindi have become a common sight due to encroachments. PHOTO: EXPRESS
The number of union councils in the delimitation of new local body constituencies in Rawalpindi district has been reduced to a record low.
The new union councils of the Municipal Corporation have been reduced from 98 to 78, leaving all the candidates, the chairman and the vice-chairman agitated.
The overall population of the district has increased while the number of union councils has been reduced, which has prompted all major political stakeholders including, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Quid (PML-Q) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) to announce challenging the decision.
The old urban and rural UCs in the Rawalpindi district were 228 which have now been reduced to 145.
According to the new delimitation, the total population of Rawalpindi district consists of 5,403,596 people with an increase of 3.5 million people.
According to the released data of the new delimitation, the total population of the metropolitan municipal corporation areas is 1,958,374 while the UCs have been reduced from 98 to 78. The new Saddar tehsil of Rawalpindi will have a total population of 319,833 people and 13 union councils.
According to the new data, the total population of rural district council areas of Rawalpindi district is 1,703,933 with an increase of 1,958,374 while the population of Rawalpindi cantonment area has increased to 1,389,081.
Similarly, the total population of Murree is 343,469 and the total population of Murree Cantonment is 8,739.
The spokesperson for the Punjab government, Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, said that the Election Commission of Pakistan has made the UCs arbitrarily as the population has increased and the number of UCs has decreased.
“We are challenging this decision in the appellate forum and the high court. We do not accept the new delimitation under any circumstances,” he said.
JI’s city deputy amir, Raza Ahmad Shah, said that the new constituencies were messed up and the party was going to challenge them.
PPP’s city senior vice president, Iftikhar Chaudhary, said that only 10 former UCs have been eliminated in the new scheme. “This is unfair. How can union councils decrease when population increases?” he questioned and added that the candidates would challenge them.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 11th, 2023.