ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday agreed to approach the Supreme Court to seek time for the enactment of a local government law for Islamabad.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) met here with Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Khan in the chair to consider matters pertaining to the upcoming local government elections.

The meeting discussed the related developments, including the recommendation of the Senate standing committee on interior for holding party-based polls in the capital.

The meeting observed that the Senate was to meet on July 6, the day on which the final list of the candidates was to be published and printing of 42 million ballot papers for six different categories of local government seats was to start.

A participant of the meeting told Dawn that the post-party-based polls legislation scenario was discussed and it was observed that in such a case the entire electoral exercise would have to be started afresh.

Since according to the schedule announced without the local government law in place, the polling date was only three weeks ahead and the time was too short to make all the arrangements, senior officials of the Interior Ministry proposed that the ECP should approach the Supreme Court to seek postponement of the polls scheduled for July 25.

The idea was, however, rejected by the commission with the CEC referring to the allegations Govt to approach SC to seek time for enactment of LG law for capital that both the government and the ECP were in collusion and not serious in holding the LG elections. “We want to remove this stigma but any such move on our part will confirm this,” the CEC was quoted as saying.

The CEC also talked about a privilege motion moved by Senator Saeed Ghani against the ECP for insulting the Upper House of the parliament by announcing a schedule for the elections before the legislative work was completed. He explained that the schedule had been announced on the orders of the apex court.

The ECP advised the government to approach the Supreme Court to narrate its failure to enact a local government law and seeking more time for the process. It was agreed that the attorney general of Pakistan would be consulted and the government would go to the apex court seeking time for legislation.

The meeting also reviewed security arrangements for the LG elections in Islamabad. The inspector general of the police told the meeting that there were 10,000 personnel on the strength of the police and more force would be required for comprehensive security arrangements.

The chief election commissioner was of the view that the deployment of one army personnel each at all the polling stations would be something good. He cited the example of NA-246 (Karachi) where smooth polls were held under the security cover provided by the army.

A representative of the army promised that they would provide all the possible assistance for holding the elections in a smooth way.

Published in Dawn July 4th, 2015

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