President Alvi sends back Islamabad LG bill unsigned

ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi has 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.

“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.

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.