CEC Sikandar Sultan calls for legislation to ensure local bodies’ polls on time

ISLAMABAD, Dec 27 (SABA): Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja on Tuesday called for legislation to ensure local government elections on time, saying the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had to often face confrontation on the matter in provinces.

The CEC made these remarks during hearing of a case related to the local government polls in Islamabad. The top election body has delayed the LG polls in the federal capital following change in the number of union councils.

Advocate General Jahangir Jadoon, former attorney general of Pakistan (AGP) Ashtar Ausaf, PTI lawyer Babar Awan and Jamaat-e-Islami’s Mian Aslam attended the hearing.

The ECP chief lamented that Punjab had postponed the LG polls twice due to delimitation of constituencies and the delimitation process for the third time is under way in the province. He said the decision of increasing the number of union councils in Islamabad had been taken at a time when the ECP had already issued a schedule for LG polls. “Why did the government not think of increasing the UCs before the announcement of scheduled?” he asked.

“Article 148 of the Constitution provides that election should be held in line with the local law, but what the ECP can do when this law has been changed,” he remarked.

Raja said the ECP would write to parliament to make legislation to ensure timely LG elections. He said the governments frequently amended the election act, causing delay in the polls.