ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday decided to hold an election on the vacant seat of Islamabad’s mayor.

At a meeting, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja directed the concerned office of the ECP to issue a schedule for the election. The seat of mayor Islamabad fell vacant on Oct 1 after the resignation of Sheikh Anser Aziz.

The meeting held at the ECP secretariat also discussed election-related issues.

Mr Aziz, the first elected mayor of Islamabad, who belonged to the PML-N, announced his surprise resignation on Oct 6 by sharing a copy of the resignation letter dated Oct 1. He resigned five months before completion of his five-year tenure.

Before making his resignation public, the mayor also requested the interior ministry to devolve several directorates of Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) to the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

The ministry then placed several under-performing directorates of the MCI, including Sanitation and Environment, under the administrative control of the CDA.

The local government elections in Islamabad were held in Nov 2015, which were won by the PML-N. Subsequently, the election for the mayor was held in Feb 2016.

The tenure of the MCI will complete in March.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2020