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LG elections in Islamabad appear to be in jeopardy – Pakistan | Jobs Vox

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A decision was made to increase the number of State Governments
• ECP remains responsive
• PTI claimed that the decision was taken after PML-N’s defeat

ISLAMABAD: The government postponed the local government (LG) elections in the capital to increase the number of union councils 10 days before the December 31 polling date, leaving both candidates and the Election Commission of Pakistan reeling. (ECP) was surprised.

On Monday, the federal government decided that the elections would be held in 125 union councils instead of the existing 101 union councils.

However, this will only be possible if the EU agrees with the government’s position and postpones the vote until the new allocation – a process that could take months.

On the other hand, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is avoiding contesting the LG elections in Islamabad fearing defeat.

The cabinet, through the home ministry, on Monday approved the findings of the federal government for demarcation of new boundaries, PTI said.

Talking in the meantime DawnPTI’s former MNA Ali Nawaz Awan said his party is ready to secure majority seats to elect its mayor.

He said that PML-N could not find candidates for many seats due to the popularity of PTI and therefore was trying to delay the elections in the name of increasing the number of union councils.

He said PTI will approach court if ECP decides to cancel LG election.

Senior PTI leader Asad Umar shared a summary of the cabinet meeting on Twitter: “Import government trying to run away from Islamabad local body elections, no humility or shame.”

Former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry tweeted that he was trying to change the number of UCs to delay the polls as he was completely defeated in the local body elections.

From Karachi to Islamabad, he said, his party had forced “illegal rulers” to nominate candidates.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb preferred not to talk about the issue.

When Dawn Sharing the findings of the Ministry of Home Affairs and asking Ms. Aurganzeb to confirm whether the Cabinet has approved the same, the minister did not respond.

However, PML-N former Union Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry confirmed it Dawn The cabinet review was approved by circular, and it was decided to hold direct elections for the post of mayor.

“PML-N is a major political party, we are not avoiding elections, but we want to hold elections after making a new distribution and reducing the number of seats from 101 to 125,” he said.

When asked why the government took this decision just days before polling day, Mr. Chaudhry said elections could be held in a few months and the demographics of the city would not change by then.

“To clarify, we are a large political party that won the last election, and we are in a good position to win this time as well, but we want to have a strong local government,” said the National People’s Congress. He added that the mayor will be elected directly, not by the votes of the heads of the City Council.

Asked about PTI’s claim that the PML-N failed to find several UC candidates, Mr Chaudhry said: “This is a white lie; we have 85 party symbol candidates out of 101 DPs, including the chairman’s name. candidates have been identified, while the DP candidates are competing independently for 11 seats.

He added that PML-N will defeat them comfortably on the basis of their performance whenever the elections are held.

It should be noted here that the previous local government ended its tenure in February last year. According to the constitution, new elections should have been held within 120 days of the end of the mandate.

The ECP had decided to hold the elections earlier this year and had also fixed the schedule and set July 31 as the polling date, but the PML-N and other parties had petitioned the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to hold the elections on that date instead. 50 The number of UB and UE councils should be increased to 101.

For this purpose, IAM has instructed to conduct the election voting in 101 capital cities, while the IEP has set a new schedule for December 31 before releasing the election schedule.

Speaking in the meantime DawnA senior official of the IEP said the commission came to know about the government’s decision through TV news and has not yet received an official notification.

However, he said that it would be very difficult and almost impossible for the EU to postpone the elections at this stage, since the candidates have spent a lot of money and time on their campaigning and the commission has completed its coordination.

Posted on December 20, 2022 at dawn

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