Loopholes : Lacunas in local government polls addressed, court told
Delimitation process completed in the federal capital
Delimitation process completed in the federal capital.
ISLAMABAD:
Legal requirements to conduct local bodies elections in Islamabad are complete, the Election Commission of Pakistan told the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday.
ECP counsel SA Mahmood Khan Sadozai maintained that the process of delimitation was completed using voters’ lists rather than the total population of the federal capital.
He added that two union councils have been created for every sector — each of which cover two square kilometres.
The two-judge bench, comprising Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi and Justice Aamer Farooq, had taken up different petitions challenging the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015, the delimitation, and other issues related to the LG polls scheduled for November 30.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and several other contestants have challenged the delimitation, the governing act, and an interior ministry notification dated August 26, 2015.
Raja Shafqat Khan Abbasi said on behalf of the petitioners that the act was passed without amending Article 140-A of the Constitution, adding that delimitation was ‘politically motivated’ and should be declared unlawful and against the interest of the public at large.
Prior to promulgating the local government act for the federal capital, he said, lawmakers should have amended 140-A by inserting ICT or Federal Territory in it.
Abbasi further argued that delimitation was done to favour a specific party.
“How would the delimitation authority know that people in a specific area are affiliated with a particular party,” remarked Justice Qureshi.
Additional Attorney General Afnan Karim Kundi said that holding of local government polls would not be a violation of any article of the Constitution.
Following the hearing, the court adjourned hearings till Wednesday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, October 28th, 2015.
Legal requirements to conduct local bodies elections in Islamabad are complete, the Election Commission of Pakistan told the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday.
ECP counsel SA Mahmood Khan Sadozai maintained that the process of delimitation was completed using voters’ lists rather than the total population of the federal capital.
He added that two union councils have been created for every sector — each of which cover two square kilometres.
The two-judge bench, comprising Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi and Justice Aamer Farooq, had taken up different petitions challenging the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015, the delimitation, and other issues related to the LG polls scheduled for November 30.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and several other contestants have challenged the delimitation, the governing act, and an interior ministry notification dated August 26, 2015.
Raja Shafqat Khan Abbasi said on behalf of the petitioners that the act was passed without amending Article 140-A of the Constitution, adding that delimitation was ‘politically motivated’ and should be declared unlawful and against the interest of the public at large.
Prior to promulgating the local government act for the federal capital, he said, lawmakers should have amended 140-A by inserting ICT or Federal Territory in it.
Abbasi further argued that delimitation was done to favour a specific party.
“How would the delimitation authority know that people in a specific area are affiliated with a particular party,” remarked Justice Qureshi.
Additional Attorney General Afnan Karim Kundi said that holding of local government polls would not be a violation of any article of the Constitution.
Following the hearing, the court adjourned hearings till Wednesday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, October 28th, 2015.