ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and independents are the main players in Monday’s first-ever local council elections in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has been found on the sidelines in this exercise as it was in the two phases of the local polls in Punjab. However, it fared very well in Sindh during these stages. In the 2013 general elections, the two National Assembly seats of Islamabad were taken by the PML-N and PTI. The seat vacated by the then PTI President Makhdoom Javed Hashmi was again won by this party’s nominee Asad Umar in the subsequent by-election, routing PML-N representative Ashraf Gujjar with a margin of 7,000 votes. While the PML-N and PTI are equally poised to maintain at least the same share in the ICT, the independents are likely to emerge victorious in a significant number. From the PML-N side, Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, who has just been inducted as minister of state, faces a big challenge to justify his elevation. Just a week before the polling he was taken in the federal cabinet to give a message to the voters of the capital that their representative has been honoured. The biggest event of these local polls will be as to which party will be successful in having its nominee as the mayor of the Islamabad metropolitan corporation. The position holder will be a key figure as he will represent the federal capital in important official functions, attended by local and foreign dignitaries. While Tariq Fazal elected to the National Assembly from Islamabad is known for undertaking frequent activities in his area, Asad Umar has not been noticed much in this context although these days he is busy campaigning for the PTI cardholders. As happened in Punjab, the PML-N has declared a number of seats ‘open’, allowing independents, belonging to it, to contest in the hope that the winners will be finally associated with it. A total of 680,612 voters, registered till September 22, 2015, will exercise their right in the urban and rural areas of Islamabad. Of them, 367,960 are males and 312,652 females. There is an apprehension that many voters, living in the city areas but hailing from other cities, may leave Islamabad for their homes as the polling day is preceded by two weekly holidays. The ICT will taste the local bodies for the first time since its establishment over five decades ago. There were frequent calls from political and public circles during this period to organise the local elections so that the residents have the lowest tiers of elected forums, but no government paid any attention to it. The Supreme Court kept pushing successive governments, but finally the Nawaz Sharif administration bowed before its order and framed a law paving the way for the present local polls. Since Islamabad has the behemoth Capital Development Authority (CDA) that is managing the city since its inception, the new system of local bodies will create several hiccups and overlapping in the beginning. The two institutions will take quite a long time to settle although the local government law defines the domains of the two bodies.
