ISLAMABAD: Independent Senator Mohsin Khan Leghari on Tuesday submitted ‘The Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2015’ to give constitutional cover to the local government system in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and cantonments in line with rights given to other provinces.

The bill proposes that residents of ICT and cantonments be able to exercise their constitutional rights of devolution of political, administrative and financial authority from their local elected representatives, similar to the residents of provinces.

According to the bill, the federal government and each province shall, by law, establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to elected representatives of the local governments, in ICT and cantonments, and each of the provinces respectively.

Read: ECP announces schedule for Islamabad LG polls

The constitutional cover given to the local government system will put an end to the discrimination against the residents of ICT and cantonments while the bill, if approved, is likely to come into force immediately.

Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani on Monday gave a ruling against holding of local bodies’ elections in the federal capital under Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Bill 2015, which, he said, had not yet become a law.

Rabbani ruled that the entire process so far carried out by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the Supreme Court’s orders was without lawful authority and an attempt to “hinder parliament in performing its duty to legislate”.

The members criticised the Supreme Court’s order allowing the ECP to announce a schedule for the local government elections in Islamabad merely on the basis of a draft legislation that was pending before the Senate for approval.

The polling for Islamabad's first local body elections, which are being carried out on the Supreme Court's orders, will take place on July 25 and the results will be announced on July 28 by the returning officers.

Earlier, a senior ECP official told Dawn that the ECP is prepared to hold the elections but the local government act passed by the National Assembly on March 26 has been pending in the Senate for months.

The announcement of the schedule presents a dilemma for the chief election commissioner as the announcement before the passage of a local government act could invite criticism against lawmakers.