PHC rules non-party LG elections unconstitutional

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday declared holding the local government election on a non-party basis as unconstitutional, ARY News reported.

A bench of the high court announced its brief verdict over various identical petitions on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local government elections.

The court ordered the election commission to hold the village and neighborhood councils elections on the party basis and take necessary steps for party based polls.

The petitions filed by Ikram Khan, Enayatullah, Khushdil Khan, Mushtaq Ahmed and Himayatullah had challenged holding LG polls on a non-party basis for village and neighborhood councils. The PHC partially approved the petitions.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on last Thursday, set Dec 19 and Jan 16 as the dates for the first and second phase of the local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The LG polls for village councils, neighbourhood councils and tehsil councils in 17 districts of the province would be held in the first phase and the rest of 18 districts in the second phase.