Cast your vote: K-P government says April 2014 suitable for LG polls

Village and neighbourhood councils to replace union councils.

PESHAWAR:

The provincial government maintains April 2014 would be a suitable time for holding local government elections, adding this time the voters might be using a biometric system to cast their ballot.

According to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Health Shaukat Yousafzai, there was no possibility of having the elections before April next year because of heavy snowfall in northern districts including Shangla, Kohistan, Upper Dir, Buner, Swat and Mansehra. He added that if they did not wait till March, these areas would not be able to participate in the local bodies elections.



Minister for Local Government Inayatullah Khan told The Express Tribune if the elections were held in April due to bad weather conditions, they would have to be conducted in phases throughout the province. He added the official announcement might be made in January 2014 and delimitation was also in process and would be completed around the same time.

Khan claimed the government would be introducing a biometric system for the elections and the government was sorting out the arrangements.

On October 24, the local government department briefed the select committee on the draft of the Local Government Bill 2013 following the Supreme Court’s orders to hold local body elections. During a hearing on the local government issue earlier, Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had said the provincial government will have to face legal action if the elections are not held on time.

The provincial government, however, asked the court for more time to make necessary arrangements for the elections. The draft of the 2013 Local Government Bill was introduced in the provincial assembly in October. It was then referred to the select committee for further discussion and changes.

Under the new bill, village and neighbourhood councils will replace union councils. The grass-roots level of local government will comprise five to 10 members, determined on the basis of population and elected seats. Two seats will be reserved for women and one seat each for peasants, non-Muslims and the youth. Previously, there were no reserved seats for youth on the councils.

The proposed bill envisages a total of 1,540 seats, including seats for women, non-Muslims, peasants and the youth across 25 districts of the province. Peshawar will have the largest district council comprising about 138 members, including 92 general seats, 31 seats for women and five each for minorities, peasants and the youth, laid down in the second schedule of the proposed legislation.

Similarly, the newly-carved Torghar district will have the smallest district assembly comprising a total of 23 councillors, including 15 general seats, five seats for women, and one seat each for non-Muslims, the youth and peasants.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2013.