ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has yet to initiate the process of delimitation for the local government polls because the provincial governments of Punjab and Sindh have still not provided certain essential prerequisites, the Supreme Court was infor­med on Friday.

“The ECP is committed to… the process of delimitation of local governments as early as possible after the receipt of notifications of demarcation of local areas, determination of number of councils and wards and authenticated maps from the Punjab and Sindh governments,” according to an ECP report presented to the Supreme Court on Friday.

The documents still awaited from the two provinces also include a set of amendments in the local government laws in the two provinces.

The Supreme Court tasked the ECP with carrying out the delimitation of constituencies and then holding local government elections in Sindh and Punjab in a judgment on March 20. The verdict declared that a nine-year absence of local bodies was against the law and Constitution. The federal government, then, through an ordinance passed on Oct 14, empowered the ECP to carry out delimitation in the two provinces.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government had assured the court that the province was ready to hold local government elections by spring 2015. But contrary to its earlier plans, it planned to hold local government polls in Peshawar under the biometric system as a pilot project, while the rest of the province would exercise their right to franchise under existing electoral rules.

Commission’s report submitted to SC will be taken up on Monday

The ECP was required to submit a compliance report to the Supreme Court in line with a Dec 1 order issued by a three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, which had asked the functionaries of the two provincial governments to work with the ECP to hold local government elections as soon as possible.

Subsequently, provincial authorities from Punjab, Sindh and the various cantonment boards met ECP officials on Dec 2.

Referring to the local bodies polls in Punjab, the ECP report stated that the commission had written to the provincial government on Oct 20 to notify the demarcation of local government and determine the number of local councils and wards.

But there has been no response from the Punjab government so far, the report said, adding that the local government secretary had told the commission that the required notification, data and authentic maps could not be provided due to the holy month of Muharrum. However, he assured ECP officials that the required information would be provided within a fortnight.

Similarly, the Sindh government representative, the report said, had been told that unless necessary amendments were made in the Sindh Local Government Act 2013, the ECP would be unable to initiate delimitation. The official promised that the anomalies identified by ECP would be removed within a month.

The ECP report will be taken up by the Supreme Court when it resumes hearing the case on Monday.

Published in Dawn December 6th , 2014