Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja has warned that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) can summon both Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz if the center and Punjab continue to delay the conduct of local body elections.
Heading a five-member bench of the ECP hearing a case related to the persistent delay in the conduct of local body polls in Islamabad and Punjab, he stressed on the need to expedite the passage of local government laws in the federal capital and the province.
Noting it would be embarrassing for the government if the ECP summons the two chief executives, he said the electoral body would issue an order at its next hearing for local government elections in Punjab. The ECP would also set its own timeline for the polls without any input from Punjab if it doesn’t proceed with its legislation, he added.
Raja noted that he had personally appeared before the Supreme Court and stressed that it was unacceptable for any provincial government to continue delaying local body polls by delaying the passage of necessary legislation. He noted Punjab was the only province left that had yet to conduct local government elections.
During the hearing, Punjab’s minister for Local Government informed the bench that a draft of the new election rules was ready. He said the local government election legislation was currently under review by the standing committee, with efforts underway to speed up the process. In this regard, he said, the Punjab Assembly speaker was urged to expedite the legislative process.
ECP Secretary Omar Hamid Khan, meanwhile, noted Punjab had failed to conduct local body elections in over three years, as the term of the previous local government ended on Dec. 31, 2021. He further noted local government laws were amended five times in Punjab since 2019, with the current exercise marking the sixth such undertaking.