No province has requested for local body polls yet: ECP

Only Balochistan, K-P have told the Election Commission about their new LG laws.

ISLAMABAD:

While the rhetoric of the federal government looking to hold local government (LG) polls before general elections continues to rise, the former is a provincial subject and can be held separately whenever each province desires.

None of the provinces has thus far sent a formal request to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for organising LG elections, according to a top-ranking ECP official. Once a request is sent, under law ECP would have to organise local polls within 90 days.

In fact, not all the provinces have even passed necessary legislation for an LG system. Once the legislation is passed, the province has to make rules for the local bodies - an exercise that would need another few months.

ECP reviews preparedness level

On its part, the ECP has started internal exercise to review its preparedness to hold elections in the country on the basis of new electoral rolls complied recently.

Provincial election commissioners, NADRA, Population Census Organisation, Printing Corporation of Pakistan and other organisations affiliated to ECP on election matters huddled for two days of consultations before a September 27 meeting with the political parties.

Officials privy to the meeting told The Express Tribune that the ECP has directed the Printing Corporation of Pakistan to be ready for printing ballot papers and NADRA to prepare special copies of electoral rolls for presiding officers with the pictures and thumb impression of each voter.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Secretary Election Commission Ishtiak Ahmad Khan said if the current assemblies complete their tenure the general elections were about 200 days away as the term of legislatures expires on March 17. In that case, ECP is bound to hold polls within 60 days of expiry of the term. He said that if a decision is taken to hold general elections before that, the commission could have only 90 days.

ECP ready for LG elections

To a question about the talks of the LG elections prior to general polls, he said the commission would meet its constitutional obligation as and when a request was received from a province.

He said the commission had been pursuing the provincial governments for the past over two years to enact necessary legislation, delimit the constituencies and offer their views on few relevant points regarding the local bodies.

He said only two provinces, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, had passed LG legislation, but the commission did not receive a reply to other queries. So far, the commission had not received a request from any province for holding LG elections, he said.

He, however, said the commission was ready to meet its constitutional obligation even if a single province makes such a request.

Khan said ECP wanted uniformity in the local government laws of all the provinces, but in case provinces opt for separate LG systems, the commission was ready to organise polls whenever asked.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2012.