IHC quashes ECP’s order on Islamabad LG polls | Jobs Vox

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday quashed the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order regarding the local government (LG) polls in the federal capital.

The Election Commission had earlier rejected the government’s announcement of increasing trade union councils in the federal capital. In response, the Center approached the court challenging the order.

“The Election Commission should reconsider its decision and hear the government and other parties on December 27. Affected parties should also be heard on December 28 to correct the voter list,” said IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq. .

The federal government earlier this week approved a review to increase the number of union councils in the federal capital from 101 to 125 as the local government polls are due to be held on December 31.

Briefly, the Administrator or Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation said that the current number of union councils is 101 as per the 2017 census.

However, since the population of Islamabad has increased to 205 million in the last five years, the number of union councils should be increased to 125.

Sections 4 (1) and 6 (1) of the Islamabad Metropolitan Local Government Act, 2015, said a notification published in the official gazette empowered the federal government to determine the number of trade union councils in Islamabad.

However, after that, the Election Commission issued an order to continue the process of holding local government elections in the Federal Capital and increased the number of union councils in violation of relevant laws.

In its two-page order, it said the action was taken without the permission of the Election Commission under Section 4 (4) of the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015.

Now, the commission is reading provisions that are in accordance with the law while exercising its mandate under Articles 140-2, 218-3, 219-d, and 220 of the Constitution, the ECA said in its order. , it was decided to continue the election activities within the specified period.

On the orders of the ECP, the government passed the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2022 a day ago and it was also passed by the Senate today.