Islamabad UCs: IHC fixes hearing of contempt plea against Centre

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) fixed the hearing of a contempt of court plea filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) leader Ali Nawaz Awan on Wednesday against the federal government regarding the increase in the number of union councils (UCs) in the capital, ARY News reported.

The IHC fixed the hearing of the contempt of court petition filed by Ali Nawaz, the Chief Justice IHC Amir Farooq will hear the petition tomorrow (Thursday).

The petitioner stated that IHC ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) not to increase the number of union councils (UCs) but ten days before the local government election they (the PDM government) increased the number of UCs in Islamabad from 101 to 125.

He further requested contempt of court action against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and others.

Back in June, the IHC ordered the election commission to complete the delimitation of 101 union councils before polls.

A bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah while hearing a petition against the ECP notification for the local government polls in Islamabad, “can the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) hold the LG elections within two months?”

“What orders the election commission wants from the court,” the chief justice questioned. ” The election commission first complete new delimitation of 101 union councils before polls,” the court ordered.

The ECP in its reply said that the LG Polls schedule will be announced after fresh delimitation of constituencies. The electoral body asked the court to direct the federal government to cooperate in local government elections. “Governments used to create hurdles in local councils elections,” the ECP said.

It is pertinent to mention here that, the total count of voters in Islamabad is more than 10 million 155 thousand, meanwhile, polling stations are 1039.