ISLAMABAD: With the local government (LG) election in Islamabad due in a few weeks, the federal government is likely to table a bill seeking amendments to the Local Government Act 2015, which may delay the local bodies polls in the federal capital, again.

The proposed legislation seeking amendments to the said law will be tabled in the National Assembly on Monday (today) and if passed, the chances of polls on Oct 9 will be next to nothing. Sources said the government wanted to increase the number of general seats in each union council from six to nine and women and minorities seats from two each to three.

In case, the number of general seats is increased then there are chances that the election watchdog will have to go for new delimitations after withdrawing the already-issued schedule which fixed Oct 9 as the election day.

According to the agenda for the National Assembly session on Monday, the interior minister will move a motion seeking suspension of a specific rule to table the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2024.

Legislation seeking increase in UC seats on the cards

The said rule mandates that whenever a bill is tabled in the lower house of parliament, members are given at least 48 hours to peruse the proposed legislation but in case of its suspension, the government can move a bill bypassing this provision.

There are also chances that the bill, after being bulldozed through the National Assembly, will be tabled in the Senate on Tuesday for its approval in the upper house of parliament.

It may be noted that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had announced the Islamabad polls on Sept 29 but the date was revised afterwards and Oct 9 was announced as the new election date.

The PTI had criticised the move, claiming the government wanted to get a bill passed from parliament to tweak the local government law in a bid to run from polls. The ECP, however, had claimed that the date for the submission of nomination papers was extended till Aug 28 to allow the participation of a maximum number of candidates.

PTI leader Sheraz Kiani alleged that the government was trying to evade local government elections. “They [government] know that the PTI will win over 80pc seats and the new mayor of the federal capital will be from the PTI, therefore, they want to avoid elections,” he claimed.

On the other hand, former deputy mayor Zeeshan Naqvi said the PML-N was ready for the polls but also termed the potential legislation necessary for the “better composition of union councils”. He claimed that the federal government wanted to have a vibrant local government body in Islamabad to resolve the issues faced by the residents. He said a large number of PML-N candidates had filed their nomination papers.

“Even for a single seat, several candidates have submitted their nomination papers and we are facing challenges in accommodating our workers and leaders [due to the sheer number of candidates]…,” he added.

According to officials, one million voters would vote in the LG polls to elect their representatives in the 125 union councils of Islamabad.

The ECP could not hold elections in Islamabad even though the local government’s tenure ended in February 2021 and the new elections are supposed to be held within six months as per the law.

It may be noted that the last LG polls were held in 2015 and PML-N won them, with Sheikh Anser Aziz becoming the mayor.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2024