ISLAMABAD: Uncertainty surrounding the local government election in Islamabad, set by the Supreme Court for July 25, deepened on Monday with a Senate committee proposing that elections should be party based.

Hours before the Senate Standing Committee on Interior put the proposal before the house, the Supreme Court asked the federal government to appraise it on Tuesday on the law pending before the Senate.

A submission by the counsel of four citizens of Islamabad, who have challenged the method of holding the local government election, prompted the court to seek the government’s position on the legislative work.

“Since local election in the federal capital is not a constitutional obligation, it cannot be held sans a relevant local government law,” counsel Mubeenuddin Qazi argued before the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court,

Senate committee proposal for party-based polls and relevant law would upset the polling date given by the Supreme Court

The bench, headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja is hearing a petition of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) seeking instructions to the federal government for expediting the passage of the bill called the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (conduct of elections) Bill 2015, and to frame the rules to provide legal cover to the first-ever electoral exercise in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

Another counsel, Qaiser Mustafa, informed the bench that Article 140-A of the constitution speaks of devolving political, administrative and financial responsibility to local government in the provinces but is silent about the capital city.

“Until the bill is finally passed by the parliament, elections on the scheduled date of July 25 appear impossible” he said.

Justice Khawaja observed that the constitution’s silence does not mean that the citizens of the federal capital do not have the right of representation at the local level and cited the local government system in Washington D.C as an example.

More importantly the bench agreed that it cannot bind the Senate to legislate early, although it can ask the provinces to promptly hold local bodies elections.

Additional Attorney, General Amir Rehman, explained to the bench that the Senate stood divided over the bill which had sailed through the National Assembly, where the ruling PML-N is in majority. He said he did expect the bill to be passed before Eid.

The bench then asked him to check with the government and tell them on Tuesday when the bill was expected to be passed.

The petitioners’ lawyers further argued that the law passed by the National Assembly, pending with the Senate, provides for conducting party-less polls while the Senate wants these to be party based. In its present form, the law is also silent on the minimum age of the youth candidate as well as the maximum age of a counselor for the general seat.

On Monday, the court observed that the government’s strategy to combat terrorism and address the law and order situation under the National Action Plan will become more effective if the local government system takes root.

ECP Additional Director General Mohammad Arshad spoke about the dilemma the ECP was facing. The ECP has to print 42 million ballot papers for the July 25 elections and time is running short. And if the legislators finally decide to hold elections on party basis, the election commission will have to re-initiate the entire exercise of printing the ballot papers.

“I don’t see elections taking place in Islamabad in the near future,” observed Justice Sehikh Azmat Saeed quipped during the proceedings.

A senior official of the ECP told Dawn that the final list of candidates for the upcoming local government elections has been published and the printing of 42 million ballot papers, for six different categories of seats is to start immediately.

He said the ECP did not waste any time but it does not seem like polling will take place on schedule. “If the amendments proposed by the Senate are accepted by the National Assembly, the bill will go to the president for assent and in case differences arise, it would go to a joint sitting of the parliament,” he said.

He noted that the opposition parties already advocating for party-based polls had a majority in the Senate and the government might have to agree to the idea. He said that in this case, the whole process of elections would have to be re-initiated beginning from inviting fresh nominations. He said any disagreement between two houses of the parliament would also mean a delay in holding of polls.

The Senate standing committee on Interior submitted a detailed report on the local government law for ICT to the Senate on Monday. The bill is likely to come on agenda of the upper house during the current week.

The Senate panel in its report recommends that the local bodies’ elections may be conducted on party-basis in pursuance of the judgment of the Lahore High Court, wherein the direction is to hold elections on party basis.

It said the local government elections being held in the provinces of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa were party based and there should be no discrimination in the case of Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2015

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