According to the bill, the K-P govt will allocate 30 percent of Annual Development Program funds to local bodies. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
The bill, which the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) claims is designed to transfer authority to the lower level in a real sense, was introduced into the assembly for debate on October 5.
Th law finally passed on Thursday, despite opposition from the various members of the parliament on abolishing union councils and instituting elections for village councils on non-party basis.
The new bill will see elections of the district and tehsil councils on party basis while village councils will be elected on non party basis.
According to the bill, the K-P government will allocate about 30 per cent of Annual Development Program (ADP) funds to local bodies.
Provincial minister for local government Inayatullah Khan announced that the provincial government will give each village council Rs2 million, which they may use to generate their own revenue.
The new set-up
Inayatullah Khan had previously stated that the “local governments will be different from the previous one. Earlier, the dictator used it to manipulate power and authority while our system will empower the villagers.”
A schedule for the devolution of power to lower levels can be viewed here.
Under the new set up, a village council has been introduced, with each council comprising of 2,000 to 10,000 people.
Those villages which exceed the required population will be divided into two councils, while those with too small a community will be added with another council.
In cities, the city blocks will considered as council. Khan said that population will be decided under the 1988 census.
The village council will be elected on non-party basis while the District and Tehsil councils will be elected on a party basis.
According to Khan this was done "with the purpose of not changing the natural system of the villages."
The provincial assembly also passed the Right to Information Act 2013 today.
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1.bill is no different from LGO 2001 with few minor changes 2. now people will vote for an independent candidate at VC level and then he will be bought by some political party at tehsil and district level
@Shehzad: ANP is already on the rise with reds reorganizing themselves. The late it gets for PTI in KPK, the more grounds they are likely to seed to reds.
@waqas: Then probably they should have realized it before election campaign and It was a pretty straight forward thing that ECP conducts the localbody election.Are you defending them for being so stupid that they didn't realize this basic fact or else?
@MUhammad hasnain yousaf: Answer to ur questions 1. Conducting an election is the responsibility of EC not provincal govt. 2. Sarah was saying abt LG bill isnt it and where school blown in every week ? 3. There is mistake in article i guess so its not 1988 its 1998.
For all those complaining about non-party elections at village council level, there will be more than 3000 VCs which translates to more than 20,000 councillors making it logistically impossible for political parties to nominate such a huge number of candidates. However, the elections at Tehsil and District level are DIRECT party elections so there will be no buying selling of candidates due to non-party based elections at VC level.
@ET, There's a typo in the report I believe. Its supposed to be 1998 census not 1988 census..
@Adnan Siddiqi: I am amazed at the extent of lies people are propagating. Oath taking of MPAs has nothing to do with government functioning as the only job of an MPA is law making. Government formation i.e. Cabinet formation of KP took place AFTER Punjab and Sindh. Furthermore, PPP and PML-N have been working on an LB law for 5+ years which is why it took them more than 1 ENTIRE term in office to get it approved. PTI has done it in 5 months. But hey, whatever version of events helps you sleep better....
@Noman: "Villages still using 1988 census." What was that? FYI census is not conducted by the villagers but PBS. That was both funny and disappointing.
@zain: He was saying about the last tenure of these political parties although not 1st tenure but first after dictatorship they had almost 5 years 5 months of govt and PTI having its first tenure of govt passed bill in 5 months
@Sarah: Working hard on what? Rolling out lollypops when every month one of their member gets killed and every week a school gets blown?
At, last the flawed government of KPK passed flawed bill to deceive the innocent people of KPK with the name of Change. Village council will be non-party based election while tehsil council will be party base. PTI government now feeling fear of failure thats why they decided village level election non-party base.
@Umair Khan: The real thing is when they will hold the LG elections. Its been 210 days since general elections, 120 days over the electoral promise.
@Faisal Awan: Villages still using 1988 census.
Buhahahahahahaha! The first government which took oath after May 11th elections was the one in KPK. After appointing every legislator of the ruling alliance as parliamentary secretary and adviser, this government came in last at ratifying the bill from the assembly.....some achievement if I might add! My sincere felicitation to the sheep herd trolls of Deen-e-Ilzam.
@Umair Khan: All provinces besides KPK passed the bills earlier and have announced plans for holding elections. ECP is waiting for KPK Govt.
seen the accompanying documents. seems like government of kpk is working hard
1988 census????? its year 2013, so KP is going to use only 25 years old census.
Et asusual biased. Look at it positivly.
now the ECP could not blame KPK for the delay in LG elections because its impossible to hold LG elections in november & december of this year
All the hatemongers: eat some crow!
just look at the last word "finally"....you will always feel with any article published in ET with reference to PTI that a jealous and biased mother in law is talking about her bahooo..