- Islamabad has had no elected local government since February 2021.
- Law requires ECP to hold local polls within 120 days of term expiry.
- CEC accuses federal govt of seeking to sabotage Islamabad polls.
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has suspended the local government election schedule in the federal capital by issuing a stay order against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) notification dated October 21.
IHC judge Justice Umair Majid Malik issued the order. The court also issued a notice to the ECP and sought its response by November 26.
The term of the last elected local government system in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) expired in February 2021, but owing to diverse legal and administrative reasons, fresh elections could not be held hitherto.
The statutory requirement under Section 219(4) of the Elections Act, 2017, is that the Election Commission is required to hold new local government elections within 120 days of the term’s expiration.
The development comes a day after Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja accused the federal government of trying to sabotage the upcoming local government polls in the federal capital and made it clear that the electoral exercise would be held as per schedule.
He made this accusation as he headed a three-member bench and heard the case of alleged violation of the code of conduct in the recent NA-77 by-election in Gujranwala, The News reported on Thursday.
He added that the federal government had ordered that teachers would not be assigned duty in the Islamabad local government elections. He wondered: “Where will the Election Commission bring staff from? The Election Commission issues directions to the prime minister and the government; directions do not come from them to us.”
He took strict notice of the federal government’s order and charged that the federal government wanted to sabotage the Islamabad local government elections. “I make it clear that the local government elections will be held in Islamabad,” he had observed.
