KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) have termed the court ruling on the election of mayors and deputy mayors by secret ballot the “victory of justice”, while the PPP-led government is mulling over options to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court, party leaders told Dawn on Wednesday.

The MQM and the PML-F, which had moved the Sindh High Court against the Sindh Local Government Amendment Bill, 2016, said the judgement would block horse-trading. However, an adviser to the chief minister said the government would review the detailed judgement before making a decision about challenging it in the apex court.

The amendment to the LG law bounds the members to cast their votes by showing their hands instead of secret ballot for electing mayors and deputy mayors.

In an immediate reaction from the MQM, its chief Altaf Hussain said the court had endorsed the viewpoint that challenged the “black law” to prove it against the basic spirit of democracy, according to a party statement that quoted his telephonic conversation with Barrister Farogh Nasim.

“The PPP government is not only getting black laws passed by the provincial assembly only due to its numerical majority but also curtailing the due powers of the local government,” he said. “Since the Sindh High Court verdict is out, I appeal to the Supreme Court that no more delay be tolerated in election of mayors and deputy mayors in Sindh so that the people of the province could be served through a long-awaited local bodies system.”

The PML-F leaders before challenging the law in the court sounded confident that the amendment proposed and made by the ruling PPP could not stand before any court of law. They said it negated the spirit of democracy and encouraged the culture of horse-trading. “Secondly, if you go through the history of this amendment, it was passed in haste that only showed the dishonesty at the PPP end,” said Nand Kumar Goklani, the PML-F parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly.

“I still remember it was a private members’ day when the PPP put this amendment for passage. Despite the protest lodged by the opposition parties, the PPP managed to get it passed due to their majority in the assembly. The most unfortunate part of the entire episode was that it was all done in the name of democracy,” he added.

Mr Goklani claimed to have received several complaints against harassment and horse-trading offer from the local PPP leaders to independent candidates who won elections in different parts of Sindh. The verdict proved that the judiciary was independent, as the decision was very much expected in line with the defined rules and democratic norms, he said.

The PPP, however, still insists that the Sindh Local Government Amendment Bill, 2013, was introduced only to address concerns expressed by the opposition parties. “We will review the detailed judgement and then the government will decide whether to challenge it in the Supreme Court or not,” said adviser to the chief minister Murtaza Wahab while speaking to Dawn. “We believe that the amendment was introduced only to ensure transparency and neutrality of the elections, which was raised by these [opposition] parties and no one else. The PPP is convinced about its effectiveness and the option to challenge the high court verdict is open after review of the judgement.”

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2016

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