Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Thursday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) proposed draft bill for local government elections in Punjab, terming it an "eyewash". The Punjab government plans to hold the Panchayat and Neighborhood Councils elections in November this year to appoint administrators to run day-to-day affairs of local governments as a stopgap arrangement to local government elections in May 2020.
PPP senior member Naveed Chaudhry told Business Recorder that the draft bill lacked checks and balances in the local government system for example it failed to provide a mechanism for fund distribution and utilisation at the local level. "The draft bill is also silent about powers of the chief minister. If the chief minister will have a supervisory role, then this system would be nothing but an eyewash," he said.
Chaudhry further stated that if the PTI government was really interested in introducing a robust and independent local government system in the province, it would have strengthened 'Local Government Commission' to ensure proper utilisation of funds at the local level and accountability of the representatives. He also objected to the concept of 'Advisory Council' in the draft bill that envisages inclusion of MPAs and MNAs of their respective constituencies as members, saying that this would compromise independence of the local government representatives.
Referring to the elections scheduled for May 2020, he said the government was trying to buy time to hold the local bodies' elections, so that it could force influential local leaders to join the PTI before the polls. According to the draft bill, there would be party-based elections for urban and tehsil councils, while mayor and chairpersons would be elected through direct election. The Panchayat and Neighborhood Council elections would be held on a non-party basis and the candidate securing highest votes would become chairperson. The PML-N lawmaker in Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Naveed Ashraf said that his party would review the draft bill and propose amendments to further strengthen it.