RAWALPINDI: After the Lahore High Court direction to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold local government elections in the cantonment areas on a party basis, political parties here delayed the announcement of their candidates.

For the non-party based elections, the PML-N had formed Khushal Pakistan group, PPP Awam Dost, PTI Naya Pakistan and Jamaat-i-Islami Khidmat group.

However, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah of the LHC on Monday directed the ECP to hold the elections in cantonment boards in Punjab on a party basis. He issued the order on different writ petitions filed against the non-party based elections.

Soon after the court ruling, political parties in Rawalpindi started consultations with their legal experts and delayed the issuance of the lists of their candidates.

In party-based elections, it becomes easy for any candidate to get votes with the support of their party.

Decision made after LHC ordered ECP to hold party-based elections in cantonment areas

However, in non-party based elections, the political parties look for candidates who can win the elections on their own popularity.

“Under the Cantonment Act 1924, elections in the cantonment areas were held on a non-party basis. We have to consult our legal experts whether amendments should be made to the Constitution to hold the polls on a party basis,” Senator Chaudhry Tanveer Khan of the PML-N told Dawn.

He said after the court ruling his party postponed the announcement of the candidates for a day. The party leaders will discuss the issue and finalise the list.

He said the ECP had also not issued a notification about the revision of the schedule for the submission of nomination papers.

PPP City president Amir Fida Paracha welcomed the decision of the LHC and said holding party-based elections was the right of the people enshrined in the Constitution.

However, he said his party would finalise the names of the candidates after the ECP issues a formal notification.

He said the PPP wanted party-based elections in the cantonment boards as it would help the parties strengthen themselves at the grass-roots level.

When contacted, PTI Punjab north general secretary Zahid Kazmi said his party had finalised the names of the candidates in some wards but after the court decision it asked the workers to submit more applications.

He said holding party-based elections was a longstanding demand of the PTI which had also challenged the government’s decision about the non-party elections in the cantonment areas.

He said the date for the submission of nomination papers would be extended.

Malik Azam of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) said his party’s candidates had submitted nomination papers to the returning officers but the names would be announced after two days as they would now file the papers from the platform of the JI.

RCB executive officer Fahim Zafar Khan, who is also the returning officer, told Dawn that they had not received any directive to hold the elections on a party basis so far.

He said the ECP would issue a notification after which the nomination forms of the candidates along with their party affiliations would be accepted.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2015

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