IHC issues notice to ECP in Islamabad LG polls case

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday served a notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a case pertaining to the postponement of the local government elections in the capital, Aaj News reported.

Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir heard petitions filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) seeking to nullify ECP's decision to postpone the local body polls scheduled on December 31.

The IHC also issued a notice to the Attorney-General of Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan to assist the court in the case.

The two parties moved the high court a day after the ECP delayed the polls in the capital.

A day earlier, the ECP held a hearing and listened to all the parties involved in the matter, upon the IHC's orders.

At the outset of today's hearing, PTI Awan's lawyer Advocate Sardar Taimoor informed the court that the election commission had issued the schedule for local body polls on 50 UCs on June 2, and announced polls on July 11.

"However, the federal government increased the number of union councils from 50 to 101, causing a six-month delay in the election for fresh delimitation," the lawyer said.

The ECP then issued a revised schedule for the local body polls on October 22, timetable, announcing LG polls on December 31.

The lawyer mentioned that as soon as the preparations were done for the polls, the federal government once again increased the number of Union Councils from 101 to 125.

He added that the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation administrator moved the summary for the new UC 12 days back.

"How did the administrator get data that the population increased without a fresh census?" he wondered.

In response, Justice Tahir said the summary to increase the UCs was approved within 24 hours. However, the prosecution act has not been passed despite repeated notices from the court.

The lawyer then told the court that the former IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah had ruled that the government could not increase the UCs once the schedule had been issued.

The PTI lawyer argued that the ECP has already spent millions of rupees and that the new legislation which changed the number of the UCs should be considered a "proposal" and not a law since the president has not yet approved it.

Following this, the court served notices to the attorney-general and ECP as it adjourned the hearing till Thursday, December 29.

Earlier, PTI leader Ali Nawaz Awan and Jamaat-e-Islami moved the IHC in the day, seeking to nullify and set aside the ECP's decision to postpone the local government elections in Islamabad.

PTI leader criticises ECP for postponing LG polls

Nawaz stated that the order is "violative of Article 75 (3) of the Constitution".

It also requested to "set aside the Notification of increase of Union Councils dated 19-12-2022 (having been issued post announcement of Election Schedule and merely 11 days before the election date, i.e. 31-12-2022)."

The petitioner made the cabinet secretary, the interior secretary and the Election Commission of Pakistan parties to the petition.

Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, Metropolitan Corporation and District Election Commission were also made parties to the petition.