Local government: Prof Rais says partyless polls won’t help democracy

PTI leader says party not considering boycott of elections.

LAHORE:

A Lahore High Court division bench on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of a set of petitions moved by opposition parties challenging party-less local government elections.

Political scientist Professor Rasul Bakhsh Rais appeared before the bench to give his opinion on the local government system.

The bench had appointed him amicus curie (friend of the court) and asked him to assist the court on the matter.

The petitioners include the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q).



The government’s counsel told the court that the nature of local government’s institutions was not legislative but administrative. He said the Constitution envisaged party-based polls for legislative institutions only.

The counsel further said that the provincial assembly, being a lawful legislative institution, had passed the local government law for party-less local government elections.

Rais, however, said a democratic system could not get strong unless political parties were closely tied to their constituencies. He said party-less polls were against democratic norms.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, adjourned the hearing for Thursday (today) and asked the government’s counsel to resume his arguments.



Govt yet to reply on challenge to district coordination committees

Also on Wednesday, the Lahore High Court accepted a request by a law officer for the Punjab government to be given more time to reply to a PTI petition challenging the formation of district coordination committees. Justice Ijazul Ahsan directed the provincial government to file its reply by November 6.

The petitioners, including Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed and other PTI MPAs, say that the Punjab government set up the district coordination committees to oversee development projects with the aim of influencing voters ahead of the local government elections.

They petitioners say the government has released billions of rupees to the committees, which include only PML-N MNAs and MPAs. They have asked the court to declare the committees illegal.

After Wednesday’s hearing of the case, Opposition Leader Rasheed told reporters that the PTI would participate fully in the local elections despite the PML-N’s alleged attempts to rig the polls. “The PTI will never leave the field empty for the PML-N,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2013.