Senate passes Islamabad LG amendment bill amid opposition’s protest

ISLAMABAD: Senate has passed the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2022, amid the opposition’s protest, ARY News reported on Friday.

The government presented the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2022, in the Senate after the legislation sailed through the National Assembly (NA) yesterday despite a protest from the opposition members and voices on lack of quorum in the House.

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani chaired today’s session in which the bill was tabled.

The opposition senators protested over the presentation of the bill and chanted slogans against the government. The opposition lawmakers also surrounded the dice of the Senate’s chairman to disrupt the proceedings.

READ: ISLAMABAD LG POLLS UCS: IHC NULLIFIES ECP’S NOTIFICATION

Senator Shahzad Waseem urged the chairman to stop bulldozing the session. Senator Faisal Saleem Rehman pointed out the lack of quorum in the Senate.

Sanjrani asked the lawmakers to return to their seats, otherwise, quorum would not be ascertained. However, PTI senators walked out of the Upper House.

Senate Chairman said that 24 votes came in favour of the Islamabad LG amendment bill and it was opposed by 12 senators.

Following the majority, the bill was passed by the Senate.

Earlier in the day, the Islamabad high court (IHC) declared the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to increase Islamabad Union councils (UCs) null and void.

READ: HIKE IN UC NUMBERS: ISLAMABAD LG POLLS MAY FACE DELAY AGAIN

The IHC order the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hear the arguments from all the parties in this case again.

It is pertinent to mention here that the federal government had increased the number of union councils (UCs) in Islamabad 10 days before the scheduled polling day for local government elections, surprising candidates as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The ECP then delimited the constituencies and issued a new schedule for local government elections in Islamabad after a previous increase in the number of union councils.

The ECP had announced holding the local government elections in the federal capital on December 31.