PESHAWAR, Dec 29: An NGO, which works for women advancement, has criticized the government decision to hold local bodies' elections on non-party basis and termed it a political error.

In a press release issued here on Wednesday, chief executive of the All Women Advancement and Rural Development, (AWARD), Maimoona Noor, said that one of the major reasons for the failure of the local government system was the holding of polls on non-party basis and now the government had been repeating the same mistake.

She said that it was a democratic requirement to hold these polls on party basis and to include all the mainstream political parties in the process. She was of the opinion that local government election was a political process and political parties could not be separated from it.

Ms Noor stated that the inclusion of political parties in the process would also help in filling the seats reserved for women as all the major political parties had separate women wings.

She stated that AWARD had held consultations in connection with local bodies' elections with members of civil society and almost all of them had supported the holding of these polls on party basis.

The representatives of civil society and political parties, including lawyers, journalists, academicians, NGOs representatives, etc. should be consulted in bringing about changes in the devolution plan, Ms Noor added.