ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said on Wednesday that there is no legal justification to delay local government elections in Punjab, saying the electoral body has repeatedly reminded the Punjab government to provide a date for LG polls which has not been done so far.
Following a high-level meeting presided over by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, the ECP issued a statement which said that the Commission directed the Punjab government on August 5, 2020, to provide a date for holding LG polls at upper tier, village and neighbourhood councils in the province.
The ECP said it sent several reminders to Punjab government in this regard but the provincial government has not yet responded. “Since delimitation of constituencies is not required for upper tier LG polls and the ECP has already notified the electoral units as per law—therefore, the ECP is of the view that there is no legal justification for delay in LG polls in Punjab,” the statement said.
The ECP decided to summon the secretaries of the ministries of Parliamentary Affairs and Law and Justice in the backdrop of repeated intimations sent to both the ministries to notify the results of population census 2017. No progress in notifying the population census results has been made despite several reminders from the ECP, the statement added.
The ECP said it had given the deadline of October 13, 2020, to Punjab government to name village and neighbourhood councils. In this regard, Chief Minister Punjab’s office informed the Commission that a cabinet committee is reviewing the names for village and neighbourhood councils and put its recommendations before the provincial cabinet. The provincial government also requested the ECP to extend the date for publication of preliminary list of delimited constituencies for village and neighbourhood councils in Punjab which was to be done today (October 15).
However, the provincial government has not given any date to the Commission regarding naming village and neighbourhood councils. The electoral body said it has decided to write a letter to provincial government to provide a date for naming village and neighbourhood councils before taking a decision on extending the date for publication of preliminary list of delimited constituencies in Punjab.
On September 18, 2020, the ECP, once again, revised the date for publication of preliminary list of delimited constituencies in Punjab, which was to be done on September 18, and extended this date for “another 15 days.”
The decision, the ECP said was taken on the request of the Punjab government, in a high-level meeting chaired by the CEC and attended by senior officials of ECP Punjab’s Local Government Department.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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