ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan has urged the Supreme Court to allow it to delay holding of local government elections in Punjab and Sindh for at least 30 days.

On Tuesday, the commission had deferred announcement of schedule for the elections due to be held on Sept 26.

In an application filed with the apex court on Wednesday, the commission said the election schedule would be issued after completion of the delimitation process and finalisation of electoral rolls.

It pointed out that Sindh had framed rules as required under Section 138 of the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, but informed the commission that it wanted to make certain changes in the rules.

The format of nomination forms and the procedure for compilation of results is to be determined by law. Nomination forms cannot be printed in the absence of the format.

The ECP officials met the Sindh chief secretary and Local Government and Law secretaries and asked them to update the Local Government Rules without which the election process cannot be initiated.

The revision of electoral rolls is carried out after delimitation of local councils / wards, but due to time constraint it cannot be finalised till the final disposal of objections / appeals by the appellate authorities.

Under the law draft electoral rolls should to be displayed 21 days before their finalisation, but due to paucity of time they can be displayed for only 7 days, depriving the people who have a genuine cause to request for change in the rolls. The electoral rolls cannot be changed after issuance of the election schedule.

The commission has sought extension of 14 days to enable people to inspect the electoral rolls and incorporate necessary changes in them.

Delimitation of local councils / wards had started in March and authorities concerned were required to finalise the hearing of objections by July 26.

The delimitation authorities have requested for more time because they have a large number of appeals pending with them, After the disposal of objections, the changes are to be incorporated in the preliminary delimitation. The process is time-consuming because the delimitation of councils and wards is again to be publicly notified.

The ECP said it was in this context that it wanted to delay the announcement of election schedule in the two provinces, originally planned for July 28, till August 17.

Punjab issued the Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance, No. XVII of 2015 recently, substituting fully or partially certain sections of the Punjab Local Government Act, but corresponding rules have not yet been amended for carrying out the purpose of such amendments.

The commission has started training of returning / presiding officers, but recent floods in certain districts have affected the process. The training for left-out officers will be rearranged and it will also affect the schedule.

It said the election process could not be initiated on time till the floods subsided because most of the flood-affected people, their household and animals are accommodated in government buildings.

The law does not allow establishing polling stations in private buildings.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2015

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