PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday moved the Peshawar High Court against the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s amendment to the rules for the filling of reserved seats in the elected local bodies in the province.

During initial hearing into the ECP petition, a bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Qaiser Rasheed issued notices to the provincial government and advocate general to clarify position on the matter.

It also asked the advocate general to assist the court in the case and clarify whether the said amendment was made with mala fide intent.

By amending the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Councils (Conduct of Elections) Rules 2014, the government had empowered political parties to submit names of additional candidates apart from the list submitted against different categories of reserved seats in district and tehsil councils elections.

The petition is filed by the ECP through its secretary.

PHC asks advocate general to clarify if govt made change with mala fide intent

Zeeshan Munir Paracha, lawyer for the ECP, said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Councils (Conduct of Elections) Rules 2014 were framed by the provincial government in exercise of powers conferred under Section 112 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2013.

He said under Section 74 of the Act, the members to fill seats reserved for women, peasants and workers, youth and non-Muslims in the tehsil, town and district councils should be elected through proportional representation system of political parties’ list of candidates on the basis of the total number of general seats secured by each political party in the respective local council.

The lawyer said under Rule 42 of the said rules, the political parties contesting election for reserved seats should, within the period fixed by the ECP for submission of nomination papers, file a separate lists of candidates in order of priority for such seats with the district returning officer.

He said the political parties’ lists could contain as many names of additional candidates as a political party could deem necessary for contesting reserved seats to provide for any disqualification of candidate during scrutiny of nomination papers or for filling of any vacant seat during the term of the respective local council.

The lawyer said an amendment was made to the said election rules by the provincial government on June 1, 2015, a day after local council elections were held in the province on May 30.

He said a new rule, 10A, was included in election rules through the said amendment.

The lawyer said the new rule provided that if at any time the party list was insufficient or exhausted, the relevant political party might submit additional names for any vacancy which might occur thereafter in the tehsil, town or district council, as the case might be.

He said after the introduction of the new rule, political parties would be manipulating the already submitted lists of their candidates and had been replacing certain names with new ones.

The lawyer said the said rule was vague and would be misused by political parties. He said making changes in the rules soon after holding elections created doubts about intentions behind it.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2015

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