The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the schedule for local government elections in the capital and directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to issue a new schedule for the polls.The judge ordered that the court requires solid concrete responses in writing, regarding the lack of polling in the capital. He further remarked that other bills in the parliament are given priority except for this one. The Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Bill which was previously passed by the national assembly is still pending before the senate.On its part, the SC has been focusing on the completion of the already delayed process of holding LG elections all over the country in pursuance of Article 140 of the constitution that speaks of devolving political, administrative and financial responsibility to local governments. The legislators, on the other hand, want to give a proper legal cover to the first-ever electoral exercise in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) by completing the necessary formalities involved in legislation. The Senate Chairman says that the SC’s order to hold LG elections in Islamabad when the enabling law is yet to be passed is tantamount to obstructing, restricting and infringing on the right of parliament to legislate. The issue of whether these elections should be party or non-party based is yet to be resolved, besides some other deficiencies in the law. In principle, the Senate’s complaint is valid: legislation is purely parliament’s domain and it is inadvisable for other state institutions to encroach upon this territory. Yet it is equally true that were it not for the Supreme Court’s insistence on holding LG polls across Pakistan, elections would not have taken place in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in the cantonment areas.One can appreciate the Senate’s insistence on parliament’s sovereignty, but senat should also realise that the people of the federal capital have a constitutional right to elect their local representatives — a right that has been denied to them for several decades, and which lawmakers have blocked through their tardiness. The Senate needs to give the Islamabad LG bill the attention it deserves and keep the legislative process moving forward.The Senate and the National Assembly should complete the legislation regarding the bill in question as soon as possible, while the SC should allow the ECP to reschedule the elections in Islamabad after all legal formalities are fulfilled.
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