LAHORE: The schedule for the local polls is likely to change again as the Election Commission of Pakistan is not sure whether the electoral exercise can be held on the due date of Jan 30 after the court decision annulling the delimitations.

Punjab Election Commissioner Mehboob Anwar has, however, directed the returning officers to continue the process for the polls under the schedule given on Dec 9.

“Rest assured that the local elections are not going to be held on Jan 30. The delay can be averted only if the Supreme Court overturns the Lahore High Court orders against the delimitations,” a senior official of the ECP’s legal branch told Dawn on Friday.

The schedule was earlier changed when the LHC directed Punjab to hold the elections on a party basis.

A full bench of the LHC on Dec 31 declared null and void the delimitations done by the district administration. It directed that the ECP should design constituencies anew for the local polls.

But, the ECP is legally empowered only to demarcate boundaries for National and Provincial Assemblies as the Punjab Local Government Act of 2013 deprived it of the same job for local bodies, the ECP official says.

The Punjab government defends its decision of authorising the district administration for delimitation work under the 2013 Act, claiming it made the law after the ECP expressed its inability to accomplish the task.

“We’ve consulted the Election Commission before framing the law. They told us that the Commission cannot design the local constituencies and meet the polls deadline for want of staff,” Law Minister Rana Sanaullah has said.

The minister says the government is ready to enact a new law for authorising the ECP to create the constituencies. But the process, he cautions, will take at least six months.

The ECP official admits that given the present timeframe for the polls and strength of the body, it is almost impossible to complete delimitations within days. He says the deadline cannot be met even if the polls are conducted on the basis of the constituencies created under the Punjab Local Government Ordinance of 2001.

“Under the law the polling schedule has to be issued anew on the basis of the previous delimitations. Seeking nominations afresh and processing the same will definitely take time.”

There are also doubts about approaching the Supreme Court in time for setting aside the LHC verdict.

On Dec 31, the LHC full bench annulled the delimitations. The very next day all members of the bench went on winter holidays. The judges are likely to rejoin their duties next week and only then a detailed judgment in the case will be penned down.

The Punjab government has already said it is not going to assail the Dec 31 court verdict.

The ECP official says even then they will wait at least for a couple of days for the provincial government’s response before deciding to go to the Supreme Court on their own.

“At least we’ll have to inform court about the fate of the local polls in the case in which Jan 30 has been set as deadline for the polling,” he says, declining to give the likely stance of the ECP

in court.