Local government polls in the Islamabad Capital Territory face a further delay following the passage of The Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2024.

Earlier, the Islamabad High Court had directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold the elections on October 9.

With the passage of the new law, the number of directly elected representatives at the union council level has been raised from the existing six to nine. The UC chairmen and vice chairmen will now be elected indirectly. The nine elected ward members will also elect four additional remembers against seats reserved for women, minority citizens, youth and labour. These 13 members will choose the UC chairman and the vice chairman. It is not yet clear whether the chairman and the vice chairman will be from among these 13 UC members or not. The total number of union councils will be 125.

“The pervious system had failed to resolve longstanding problems and issues,” Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz MNA Tariq Fazal Chaudhry says. “The new system is similar to the London local government model. This will make for a more efficient administration.”

The amendments have been passed at a time when preparations for the October polls were under way. National Assembly members of Pakistan Thereek-i-Insaf opposed the bill, claiming that the only purpose of the new law was to delay elections the government could see it was going to lose.

“This is a motivated piece of legislation, passed after an election schedule had been announced. This is a clear admission of defeat by the ruling alliance,” PTI leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said. “The government is afraid of facing the electorate. They don’t want a situation like February 8,” he added.

The number of directly elected representatives at the union council level has been raised from the existing six to nine. UC chairmen and vice chairmen will now be elected indirectly. The nine elected ward members will also elect four additional members against seats reserved for women, minorities, youth and labour.

MNA Chaudhry, however, said: “A little delay should not be a major issue.”

Only two years ago, the number of union council in Islamabad was 50. It was raised first to 101 and now to 125. The number of registered voters is around one million.

The tenure of the previously elected local government had ended in February 2021. Under the law, new elections should have been held within six months. The last elections were held in 2016.

Earlier, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had ordered the then (PTI-led) government to hold the local body polls in Islamabad. However, the then government had wanted to hold the polls under the controversial Local Government Ordinance 2021. However, the IHC had stuck down the law a few weeks before the PTI government was dismissed. The government had already failed to get the ordinance approved by the parliament. It had been promulgated by the president in November 2021 and expired after 120 days (in February). The court had observed that the PTI government had used all tactics to delay the local government elections in the federal capital. The court had also observed that the federal government did not assist the ECP in performance of its statutory duty through provision of maps and notification for delimitation.

“Actually, no federal or provincial governments want a strong local government system. The governments see local governments as contenders for power; that is why they do not want them around,” says Ahmed Bilal Mehboob of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency.

The writer is a staff member. He tweets at @waqargillani