Spirit of democracy : Pleas against phased polls dismissed

LAHORE: Lahore High Court on Tuesday dismissed petitions challenging phase-wise local government elections in the Punjab.  A deputy attorney general told the court that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had decided to hold the polls in phases due to shortage of staff and issues in maintaining law and order. He said the ECP had earlier conducted local government polls in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and had to deal with a dire law and order situation. Advocate Munsif Awan of the Justice Party among others had filed petitions against the ECP’s decision to hold local government elections in phases in the Punjab. They said the schedule had been drawn in a way that would favour candidates of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. According to the schedule, elections would be held first in areas where the PML-N had lost, they said. “This is illegal and against the spirit of democracy,” they said. The petitioners requested the court to set aside phased local government elections. The court heard both sides and disposed of the petitions.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23^rd, 2015.