RAWALPINDI: Returning officers have worsened the confusion surrounding the local bodies polls by continuing with the electoral process when the Lahore High Court (LHC) has ordered fresh delimitation of the city’s seven union councils and a new election schedule.

They have continued to scrutinise the nomination papers filed for the seven union councils of Rawalpindi district, including Murree and Kotli Sattian, in accordance with the old schedule which set December 3 as the polling date.

In its October 6 verdict, the Rawalpindi bench of the LHC declared the delimitation of the seven union councils by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) “without lawful authority and of no legal effect.” It ordered that the process be undertaken afresh and the local government elections rescheduled.

However, the ECP has not yet acted upon the court’s directives, creating uncertainty for the contestants.

Rawalpindi Regional Election Commissioner Syed Sabir Hussain Gilani said the election process would continue till the arrival of a fresh schedule.

“The election commission will take decision in this regard soon. It is expected that it would make a new announcement soon,” he said.

Meanwhile, the PML-N Metropolitan president Sardar Naseem told Dawn that his party workers and prospective candidates were confused at the returning officers carrying on routinely with their work when the election schedule had become uncertain.

Most of the candidates had to pay the election fees a second time as the same election scheduled in 2014 were postponed, he recalled.

“That is why the PML-N has not yet formally announced its candidates. We may do so in the first week of November after the situation clears. Our candidates would submit their party ticket to the returning officers on the last date.”

PPP City president Amir Fida Paracha said the election commission should clear the situation and end the confusion. It should either challenge the court order or issue a fresh schedule.

“Ever since the court orders, the candidates have been shuttling between the election commission offices and lawyers to know where things stand but the situation is beyond our understanding,” he said.

PTI organiser for NA-54 Zahid Kazmi said his party was against the local administration doing the delimitation as it was controlled by the PML-N. He suspected the PML-N government wanted to postpone the local government elections “and that is why the prevailing confusion.”

He added: “The election commission is taking dictation from the ruling PML-N and conducted the delimitation according to its wishes. We don’t trust the election commission. But we will not leave the field all to the ruling party.”

Lawyer Raja Saimul Haq Satti said though the LHC decision was about seven union councils, it would be applicable to all union councils recreated under new delimitation done by the election commission. It is the responsibility of the revenue department of the district, as the court said.

Published in Dawn, October 10th , 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play