The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has officially conveyed to the government of Balochistan that it would hold local bodies' elections in the province on time and the provincial assembly cannot pass any amendment in the local government act now.
The tenure of local government institutions in Balochistan stood completed on January 27, this year and the ECP, under section 219(4) of the Elections Act 2017, is bound to hold the local bodies' elections in the province within 120 days of completion of the tenure.
As per the Elections Act, 2017 the ECP is required to hold local government elections in Balochistan before May 27 while the Balochistan government has requested a delay in the polls till November as it intends to make some amendments in the Local Government Act to ensure that local government representatives deliver in their respective areas after being elected.
The provincial government also requested the ECP to delay the delimitation of the constituencies, but the Commission rejected all their requests.
The ECP has made it clear to the representatives of Balochistan that under Article 140 (A) of Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Section 219 (4) of Election Act 2017; it is the constitutional responsibility of the ECP to hold local government elections within 120 days of expiry of the term of local bodies.
An ECP official said there is not enough time to make any major change in schedule of delimitation in Balochistan. The ECP said under Article 220 of the Constitution, instructions have been issued to the Balochistan government for holding local government elections on time. The ECP has also conveyed to the provincial government that it would not accept any delay and asked for cooperation with the ECP staff to complete election related work.