ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold local bodies elections in the federal capital on December 31, as per its schedule.
A single bench of Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir on Friday heard of the identical petitions moved by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ali Nawaz Awan through his counsels, Sardar Taimoor Aslam Khan advocate and Mudassar Abbas advocate and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Mian Aslam challenging the ECP’s notification to postpone the local bodies elections in the federal capital which were scheduled to take place on December 31.
In its short written order, the IHC said that for reasons to be recorded separately, both writ petitions are allowed. It added; “Consequently, the impugned order dated 27.12.2022 and the impugned notification dated 19.12.2022 are set-aside. The Election Commission of Pakistan is directed to hold the local government elections in the Islamabad Capital Territory as per the schedule already announced i.e. on 31.12.2022.”
“The Federal Government is directed to provide all the assistance to the Election Commission of Pakistan for conducting the local bodies’ elections as mandated by the Constitution,” said the order.
Earlier, the court reserved the verdict and expressed displeasure over the federal government’s attitude and voiced its reservations over the waste of money if the polls were not held on time.
During the hearing, Additional Attorney-General of Pakistan Munawar Iqbal Dogal informed the court that federal government and the ECP officials held a meeting earlier in the day. He added that due to a shortage of time, they could not take into account the comments.
At this, the bench asked that is the federal government so incompetent that it cannot send its response to a petition. In response, the AAG said that even if the government readies an answer, it cannot be forwarded without approval from the Ministry of Law and Justice.
Then, Justice Arbab asked what was the reason behind increasing the number of UCs 12 days prior to the elections and also questioned whether the government could promise to hold the polls or not.
The AAG replied that it is the government’s prerogative whether it wants to hold the polls. The bench asked how many times this power has been exercised in 2022. The AAG told the court that the power has been exercised twice this year.
In his arguments, the DG Election Commission (Law) informed the court that the commission had carried out many undertakings for conducting local government polls.
The IHC judge asked the official to inform the court what have ECP processed so far since June 30. The ECP officials said that they announced the local government election schedule for December 31 and the printing of ballot paper and the training of the polling staff has been completed.
Justice Tahir asked the DG ECP can you not hold the polls right away? The DG replied that it was possible to hold local elections in 7-10 days. He added that ballot papers were supplied to the polling stations two days before the polls, while security arrangements also needed to be taken care of.
Justice Tahir remarked that security arrangements are always in place in Islamabad. He added that if elections did not take place the polling material would be wasted and asked who would be responsible for that. The DG answered that the one who issued the notification be blamed.
The petitioner assailed the order of the ECP dated 27-12-2022, whereby, the Local Government Election in Islamabad Capital Territory scheduled for 31-12-2022 have been postponed.
The counsel for the petitioner while explaining the brief background of the matter has stated that earlier in the exercise of powers conferred under sub-section (1) of section 6 of the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015 (“Act of 2015”) issued notification, dated 19-05-2015, whereby, determining the number of Union Councils as 50. The said notification was subsequently withdrawn on 18-05-2021 without issuing a new notification.
He added that in compliance with the judgment, dated 15-03- 2021, of the august Supreme Court, the Election Commission of Pakistan (“ECP”) on 02-06-2022 announced the election schedule relying on the earlier notification of 50 UCs.
He further said that a writ petition i.e. WP No2235/2022 was filed before this Court, wherein, the ECP expressed willingness for conducting elections and filed a report categorically stating that direction may be issued to the Federal Government not to bring out further changes in law and number of councils. The said petition was disposed of with the observation that the Commission will complete the process of delimitation of 101 Union Councils within the period specified under section 7 of the Act of 2015.
The petitioner said that after the fresh delimitation exercise, the number of Union Council was increased to 101. Thereafter, the Commission announced the election schedule for 31-12-2022 and on 18-12- 2022, a summary was forwarded to the Federal Cabinet mentioning that the Administrator Local Government has informed that the number of UCs has been determined on the basis of census 2017 and recommended an increase of UCs to 125 on the ground that the population of ICT has been increased.
He continued that based on the said summary, the number of UCs has been increased to 125 vide notification, dated 19-12-2022. A copy of this notification was endorsed to the Commission. On 20-12-2022, the Commission in the exercise of powers under Article 140-A(2), Article 218(3), Article 219(d) and Article 222 of the Constitution read with section 219 of the Election Act, 2017 and all other enabling provisions decided to continue with the election process on the ground that notification dated 19-12- 2022 was issued without the concurrence of the Commission as required under section 4(4) of the ICT Local Government Act, 2015.
However, to the utter surprise of the petitioner, the Commission while affording an opportunity to the applicants/petitioners in WP No4787/2022 and 4809/2022 decided to postpone the elections scheduled for 31-12-2022 without mentioning any timeline for conducting election through the impugned order.
The counsel argued that the determination of 101 UCs was based on the census of 2017 and no new census has been conducted thereafter, therefore, the proposal that population in the ICT has increased after the census is hypothetical and not based on actual facts and the notification issued on such basis is without lawful authority and jurisdiction. He further argued that the election schedule was announced, ballot boxes and ballot papers were distributed, orders relating to elections duties were passed, however, the election schedule was postponed at the verge of the elections, which is violative of the judgment of the august Supreme Court and this Court and the rights of the inhabitants of the ICT.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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