PESHAWAR, Dec 13: The Awami National Party challenged the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2013 in the Peshawar High Court on Friday.

ANP’s parliamentary party leader in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Sardar Hussain Babak told Dawn that they had reservations on different sections of the new law.

He said several parts of the act had been challenged in the PHC, including the ones related to village and neighbourhood councils, holding of local government elections on the non-party basis at gross-roots level and power to the chief minister to suspend district naib nazims and nazims.

He said they wanted restoration of the union councils which the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government had abolished and introduced the village and neighbourhood councils. “It is against the democracy to hold local bodies elections on village and neighbourhood councils,” Mr Babak said, adding it would encourage horse trading.

He alleged that the provincial government was trying to depoliticise the society because under the new law personalities would be elected instead of politicians.

Under the new law, Mr Babak said, elections for village and neighbourhood councils would be conducted on the non-party basis while on ward level elections for the membership of district and tehsil councils would be held on the party basis. He called it “mere confusion”.

With the restoration of union councils and holding of elections on grassroots level political parties would be strengthened, he said.