Govt, ECP to appeal against IHC order for LG polls in capital today

ISLAMABAD: As the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Friday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold local government elections in the capital on December 31 (today), the federal government decided to challenge the court’s order.

IHC’s Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir accepted the petitions of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) seeking to nullify ECP’s decision to postpone the local government elections.

In its one-page short order, the high court asked the federal government to ensure that “it assists the election commission in holding the local government polls”.

“The Ministry of Interior’s December 19 notification has been declared null and void and so is the December 27 notification of the election commission,” the order added.

The election commission had deferred the polls after the federal government increased the number of union councils (UCs) in the capital without taking the former into confidence.Before reserving the verdict, the court had expressed displeasure over the federal government’s attitude. “We are disappointed in the government [lack of engagement],” the court said.

At the outset of today’s hearing, Additional Attorney-General of Pakistan Munawar Iqbal Duggal told the court that federal government and ECP officials held a meeting earlier in the day.

“Due to a shortage of time, we could not take into account the comments,” the AAG said, to which the court questioned that is the federal government so incompetent that it cannot send its response to a petition.

In response, Duggal said that even if the government readies an answer, it cannot be forwarded without approval from the Ministry of Law and Justice.

The judge then asked what was the reason behind increasing the number of UCs 12 days prior to the elections and also questioned whether the government could promise to hold the polls or not.

“This the government’s prerogative whether it wants to hold the polls,” the AAG said, to which the court asked how many times has this power been exercised in 2022.

The AAG told the court that the power has been exercised twice this year.

Following this, Islamabad Advocate General Jahangir Jadoon began his arguments and questioned the conduct of PTI leader Ali Nawaz Awan — one of the petitioners.

“The petitioner should review his conduct and so should the court. Ali Nawaz Awan is a member of the National Assembly, but he is not playing his role over there.”

For devolving powers, Awan should be attending the lower house’s sessions, Jadoon said.

In his arguments, DG Election Commission (Law) informed the court that the commission had carried out many undertakings for conducting local government polls.

To this, Justice Tahir asked the official to inform the court what have ECP processed so far since June 30.

“We announced the local government election schedule for December 31. Printing of ballot paper and the training of the polling staff has been completed,” the DG told the court.

Justice Tahir asked the DG ECP what was the distance of the farthest polling station from your office. “Can’t you hold the polls right away?” the court asked the DG ECP, who replied that it was possible to hold local elections in 7-10 days.

He added that ballot papers were supplied to the polling stations two days before the polls, while security arrangements also needed to be taken care of.

Justice Tahir remarked that security arrangements are always in place in Islamabad.

“If elections didn’t take place the polling material would go to waste,” Justice Tahir said and asked who would be responsible for that. “The one who issued the notification would be to blame,” replied DG ECP.

The federal government decided to challenge the order of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to hold local government elections in Islamabad on December 31 (today).

Munawar Iqbal Duggal, Additional Attorney General, confirming the move said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is going to file an intra-court appeal against the decision.

The ECP held an emergency meeting after the IHC on Friday directed the ECP to hold local government elections in the capital city on December 31 (today) and set aside the ECP’s order dated Dec 27 on the postponement of the polls.

During the meeting of ECP, it has been decided to file an intra-court appeal against the court’s verdict. The election commission will seek at least a week to conduct the polls stating it requires time for the printing and delivery of ballot papers, the sources said.

ECP officials also held a meeting with Munawar Iqbal Duggal Additional Attorney General over the inability to conduct the polls. Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Raja also reached Islamabad and held a meeting on the situation.

The election commission has expressed its inability in the meeting to conduct the local government elections within a day, the sources said. The deployment of polling and security personnel would become a major challenge for the election commission, it adds.

Sources said more than 14,000 members of the polling staff were teachers and employees of other departments and they were on winter vacation, hence making it difficult for the ECP to conduct the election. The delivery of polling materials to the polling station and setting up polling booths is a huge challenge.

The LG polls in the capital city were scheduled to be held on Dec 31 but the ECP postponed these due to the government’s decision of increasing the number of union councils (UCs) in the city.

Munawar Iqbal Duggal said that the certified copy of the decision has been obtained from IHC and the work of preparing the intra-court appeal is going on.

The government will also request to IHC for hearing the intra-court appeal today.

Meanwhile, minutes after the court’s directives to conduct LG polls today (December 31), Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said Friday the federal government is not in a position to hold local government elections in Islamabad immediately.

“We respect the court [Islamabad High Court], but holding the elections is not possible as the arrangements cannot be made in such a short period,” the federal minister told Geo News.

He added that as many as 1,000 polling stations needed security, election material is still not deployed at the stations and the polling staff will also be needed. “This isn’t possible.”

The IHC had earlier directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold local government elections in the capital on December 31 after it accepted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) petitions seeking to nullify ECP’s decision to postpone the local polls.

“The federal government is directed to provide all the assistance to the Election Commission of Pakistan for conducting the local bodies’ elections as mandated by the Constitution,” Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir said in a one-page short order.

The minister also added that since the “ground realities” do not permit the government to ensure the polls take place, the centre was going to file an intra-court appeal against the order.

“The order was issued in the evening after office hours. How is it possible to make the arrangements for the [elections]? What can be a more strong reason than this,” Sanaullah said when asked about what his hopes were about the petition’s acceptance.

The minister said he was not surprised by the order, but noted that directions should be “implementable” and the latest IHC order will ensure “that the elections do not take place”.

Sanaullah said a new schedule should be issued for the polls, and there is no other way to hold the elections as he ruled out assisting the election commission.

“It isn’t possible [to assist] the commission. We cannot provide security in such a short time period for 1,000 polling stations. Islamabad Police are not enough as will need to deploy Rangers and FC will have to be called in,” he added.

Sanaullah said he foresees the polls taking place in the next three to four months as the new delimitation will take time.