Local government: PHC gives green light to non-party based village, neighbourhood polls

Short order announced after dismissing ANP, JUI-F petitions

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court dismissed two identical petitions on Tuesday of Awami National Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl against holding village and neighbourhood council elections on a non-party basis. Local government elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are scheduled for May 30.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel announced its short order after dismissing both petitions through which a number of questions were raised over the K-P Local Government Act (LGA) 2013. The division bench of CJ Miankhel and Justice Irshad Qaiser had earlier reserved their judgment in the instant case on May 6.

The petitions were filed by ANP parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak and JUI-F provincial informational secretary Abdul Jalil Jan. They challenged holding LG polls on a non-party basis for village and neighborhood councils and also questioned certain powers afforded to the chief minister under the act.

Bone of contention

In a previous hearing, Khushdil Khan, counsel for Babak, told the court the government is holding the elections on a non-party basis in village and neighbourhood councils under Section 27 (2) which is in conflict with Article 17 of the Constitution.

The section in question reads that the “village council or neighbourhood council, as the case may be, shall be a multimember ward for election of members to be held on a non-party basis through an adult franchise and joint electorate.” Khushdil pointed out the councillor on the general seat in a village with the highest number of votes would be elected as nazim, while the runner-up would be naib nazim.

He said those elected on women, minorities, youth and peasant seats could not take such positions, adding this was discriminatory. “This violates Article 25 of the Constitution which grants equality to all citizens.”

Khushdil said, “The Lahore High Court declared Section 18 of the Punjab Local Government Act illegal and ordered the government to hold elections on a party basis. The government then made amendments to the said act.”

He also objected to Section 56 of the LGA which states the local government commission should be answerable to the chief minister. He questioned if the commission could be impartial if it reported to the chief minister.  Also, the petitioners challenged Section 59 which empowers the CM to suspend for one month any nazim who does not obey an order.

“There are ample powers with the chief minister, so if there is any problem with a nazim, an enquiry can be initiated,” the court was told.

Jalil Jan’s lawyer Muhammad Isa Khan endorsed the arguments of Khushdil Khan, saying the petitioners do not want to delay the elections. He added amendments can be made to remove any grievances.

Qazi Muhammad Anwer, who was assisting the public prosecutor, said the order of the Lahore High Court was not binding on the K-P government. The election commission was not made party in one of the petitions. He said in Punjab’s case, “political parties had locus standi, while in this matter the petitioners are not the aggrieved persons.”

Advocate General Latif Yousafzai told the court the government was holding village and neighbourhood council polls on a non-party basis to ensure there is no political intervention and social problems are solved on a grass-roots level.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2015.