ECP adjourns case against KP's LG polls till October 28

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of a case related to the organisation of the local government polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), ARY News reported.

A two-member commission headed by ECP member Altaf Ibrahim conducted the hearing of the KP LG elections’ case today where the provincial local government secretary appeared.

The provincial authorities have once again failed to present notification of an amended law for local government. The secretary said that the provincial cabinet is reviewing the draft law of the local government and sought more time to present the notification.

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Ibrahim remarked that the delay is being made by provincial authorities and adjourned the hearing till October 28.

Earlier on October 10, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had given a final deadline to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government to release notification of the local government’s amended law in order to move ahead for organising LG polls.

Additional Advocate General appeared in the hearing to represent the provincial government. He apprised the chief election commissioner that the delimitation process for tehsils’ councils has not completed yet which is the reason for delay.

To this, Raza said that the commission is ready to send its official if the provincial government has not found an appropriate person to complete the delimitation process. He expressed outrage, saying, “KP government has to do only one thing from its very first day.”

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“The government is facing various issue after the implementation of 18th amendment,” the lawyer said.

“18th amendment has resolved many issues. However, it is notable that the provincial government seems bound to at least do some efforts after the implementation of the constitutional amendment,” remarked Raza.

The lawyer detailed that the allocation of reserved seats could only be possible after the completion of delimitation, whereas, the assistance of military troops will also be needed for organising elections in the merged tribal districts.

CEC responded, “It is not your requirement to seek assistance from military troops as the decision will take the election commission itself if required.”

He added that the elections were already organised in erstwhile FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas] and the arguments are apparently showing the desire of the provincial government to create an uncertain situation.