Islamabad LG Amendment Bill sails through joint sitting of parliament

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2022 has sailed through the joint sitting of the parliament, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah tabled the Islamabad LG Amendment Bill 2022 during the joint parliament session today.

The federal government removed the clause of direct elections of Islamabad’s mayor and deputy from the local government (LG) law.

Moreover, Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmed tabled the amendment to end the direct election of the mayor and deputy mayor. The joint sitting of the parliament passed the said amendment to the Islamabad LG law.

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The clauses 3 and 4 of the Islamabad LG Bill 2022 were removed following the amendment. Under the latest amendments, the number of Islamabad’s Union Councils (UCs) was increased from 101 to 125.

Later, the joint session was adjourned till 4 pm on Monday.

In January, President Arif Alvi had returned the ICT Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2022 unsigned in terms of clause (1) (b) of Article 75 of the Constitution.

The President returned the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Bill unsigned observing that it would further delay the Local Government elections.

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“Actions of the Federal Government taken in hurry on resulted in delaying election process twice, which was anathema to democracy,” President Secretariat in a press release on Sunday quoted the president as saying.

It was further stated, “elections could not be held in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) due to the malafide actions of the federal government.

After completion of delimitation of 50 Union Councils, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced elections of local councils in ICT. Despite announcement of polling date, the government enhanced the number of union councils from 50 to 101, resulting into postponement of elections, President Alvi stated.

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After demarcation of 101 Union Councils, ECP decided to hold elections in capital territory on 31st December 2022, the president said.

“Section 2 of current Bill provides for 125 Union Councils in the ICT, therefore, elections scheduled for 31st December 2022 have been again postponed,” he said.

In section 3 of the current bill, mode of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor elections has been changed after announcement of the election schedule, he observed.