ISLAMABAD: President Mamoon Hussain is likely to give his assent on Tuesday to the Federal Capital Territory Local Government Bill seeking party-based LG elections in Islamabad.

The information was shared on Monday by Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt with a two-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja. The bench is seized with an application filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), seeking an order for the federal government to expedite the process of passing the bill and framing rules so that the commission could hold the elections in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

Also read: Islamabad finally gets party-based poll law

The attorney general informed the court that the bill had been passed by the National Assembly on July 29, along with the amendments proposed by the Senate.

“The bill has been forwarded to the president and we expect that by Tuesday it will be duly enacted after it receives the president’s assent,” he said.

ECP’s Additional Director General of Law Mohammad Arshad argued that the commission had to undertake the elections in accordance with the rules framed by the government. The ECP would not be able to hold the elections until the rules were framed, he said.

But the attorney explained that under Section 17 of the bill, it was mandatory for the ECP to proceed with the elections and assured the commission that rules under the law would be framed within a week after the law became an act of parliament.

In its order, the court recalled that it had expressed its concern on numerous occasions that the residents of the ICT had been deprived of the local government system since 1992.

“Democratic institutions at the local government should be established at the earliest,” the court observed. It asked would the ECP remain a silent spectator if the elections were not held for the next 25 years.

The court observed that there was no law which barred the ECP from holding the local government elections in Islamabad.

The hearing was adjourned for Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2015

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