According to the act, the federal capital will have a metropolitan corporation comprising members directly elected from UCs (wards) and headed by a mayor. PHOTO: MOHAMMAD NOMAN/EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD: The Interior ministry has notified 79 union councils (UCs) for the capital for holding local government (LG) elections scheduled for July 27.
Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued the schedule for conducting LG elections in Islamabad under the Local Government Act 2015.
According to the act, the federal capital will have a metropolitan corporation comprising members directly elected from UCs (wards) and headed by a mayor.
A total of 79 UCs will be established in the city on the basis of the 1998 Population Census, said an official of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration. According to the official, the total population of Islamabad was 0.8 million when the last census was held and the UCs will be established accordingly.
He explained that each UC will comprise a population of 11,000 households and the ECP will conduct delimitation of UCs, for which as two-member committee comprising the assistant commissioner (AC) city and AC (rural) has also been formed to provide maps to the ECP.
“The committee will also assist the ECP in this regard,” said the official.
The ICT Administration had proposed 50 UCs but the ministry increased them to 79, said the official, adding that the notification was revised twice by the ministry.
One of the committee members told The Express Tribune that the committee will only provide logistic and technical support to the ECP to start delimitation in the city.
When reminded that the population of the city has increased manifold since the last census and the UCs will be established on the basis of the old census, the official replied that these were technical issues which the ECP will have to handle.
According to the election schedule, filling of nomination papers will start from June 8 and the same will be scrutinised from June 15 to June 20.
Appeals against rejection of nomination papers will be entertained from June 24 onwards, while tribunals will issue decisions on appeals on June 30. The final list of the candidates will be issued on July 7.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 30th, 2015.
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