Poll body notifies 79 UCs’ delimitation

Senate body discusses LG bill’s ‘discrepancies’

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday notified delimitation of 79 union councils (UC) of Islamabad calling upon voters to verify their votes before announcement of local bodies’ election schedule in Islamabad --- expected on June 18.

“ECP has completed delimitation task in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). Following due approval of the Chief Election Commissioner, the ECP will formally announce the local government election’s schedule soon,” ECP spokesperson Khurshid Alam told The Express Tribune.

He called upon the public to timely verify its votes and lodge complaints, if any, as no objection in this regard would be entertained once ECP announces the election schedule.

It took ECP almost a month to complete the delimitation process within ICT limits, as preliminary lists of constituencies was published on May 16. ECP was supposed to complete this process, as per its earlier announced schedule, by May 30.

However, through an amended notification, the timeframe for delimitation was extended to June 15.

All 79 UCs are delimited with regard to the distribution of population, existing boundaries of areas, communication facilities, public conveniences and other cognate factors, Alam informed.

Senate discusses LG bill

Though ECP is making progress in line with a schedule it had submitted with the Supreme Court of Pakistan, mandatory legislation required to hold these elections is still pending with the upper house of Parliament.

On Monday, a subcommittee of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior held its maiden meeting to discuss the pending Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Bill, 2015 referred to it on May 29.

The bill has already been approved by the National Assembly.

The three-member subcommittee headed by Senator Mohammad Ali Saif was briefed by the chief commissioner Islamabad about the pending bill. The body discussed public petitions, which included apprehensions and suggestions mainly filed by representatives of the Capital Development Authority’s labour union and Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF).

Saif observed that a number of discrepancies exist in terms of sharing of powers and responsibilities among elected representatives, the metropolitan corporation which will be formed as result of the LG polls, and the CDA.

“Subcommittee has asked all stakeholders to submit their reservations and suggestions in written form by Tuesday (today) as we are scheduled to submit a final report on the bill with the Senate’s interior committee on Wednesday,” subcommittee member Senator Mohammad Javed Abbasi said talking to The Express Tribune.

Abbasi said to devolve powers in real sense to the elected representatives, it was necessary to give CDA under direct control of the LG.

The general secretary of CDA labour union Chaudhry Yasin said the proposed bill did not ensure job security for the authority’s employees.

Islamabad Chief Commissioner Zulfiqar Haider acknowledged that issues regarding exercise of powers would emerge between elected representatives and federal government departments as LG elections have never been held in urban Islamabad.

To have a better understanding of future distribution of powers, the CDA chairman has been asked to brief the subcommittee on Tuesday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2015.