ISLAMABAD : Dec 30,2022: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the Election Commission to hold local body elections in Islamabad on December 31 (Saturday), Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir of Islamabad High Court gave the summary judgment .
The IHC ruled on the petitions of Ali Nawaz Awan and Jamaat-e-Islami against postponing the local body elections and the High Court accepted the petitions.
The High Court has ordered the Election Commission to conduct local body elections on December 31 as per the original schedule.
Earlier, IHC had directed the Election Commission to satisfy the court on the decision to postpone the local body elections in Islamabad.
After the decision to postpone the local body elections in the federal capital, the division bench of Islamabad High Court comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir disposed off PTI’s intra-court appeal in which the court was requested that the Election Commission should be prevented from delaying the elections.
The advocate of the petitioner, Sardar Taimur Aslam, said that earlier, in the use of the powers obtained under sub-section (1) of section 6 of the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015, the federal cabinet on 19 January 2015 fixed the number of union councils up to 50. Notification was issued.
The said notification was withdrawn on 18 May 2021. On 2 June 2022, the Election Commission announced the election schedule based on the previous notification of 50 union councils.
While the Election Commission had submitted a report to the High Court expressing its willingness to hold elections, in which it was said that instructions can be issued to the federal government not to change the number of union councils or amend the law. had announced the schedule for local body elections on December 31, however a summary was sent to the federal cabinet requesting to increase the number of UCIs from 101 to 125.
Based on the above summary, the number of Union Councils was increased to 125 on December 19. The Election Commission initially opposed this decision but later postponed the elections.
The petitioner’s counsel argued before the court that the Election Commission cannot go back on its previous promise, arguing that the Election Commission through its order dated December 20 decided to continue the election process for sound reasons. There was no further development after the passing of the said order.
During the hearing, it was argued that under Article 75(3) of the Constitution, the proposed bill cannot be called an Act of Parliament regarding the amendment of any law until the assent of the President, however, the Election Commission relied on the proposed amendments in its decision. which have not yet obtained legal status.
Later the said petition was disposed of with the observation that the Election Commission should complete the delimitation process of the 101 Union Councils within the period specified under Section 7 of the 2015 Act. The number was increased to 101.
The respondents were also directed to satisfy the court as to why the notification for postponing the local elections should not be suspended.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) had approached the High Court against the Election Commission’s order regarding postponing the elections in Islamabad on December 27.
