conduct of LG elections. The ECP had already held a meeting with Sindh chief secretary, secretary Local Government and Secretary Law of Sindh and persuaded them to update the LG Rules because the process of election cannot be initiated without up to date rules.
It was further informed that revision of electoral rolls is carried out after delimitation of local councils/wards. However, due to time constraint, the revision of electoral rolls has been initiated but cannot be finalised till the final disposal of objection/appeals by the appellate authorities.
It is requirement of law that draft electoral rolls are to be displayed 21 days before its finalisation however, due to paucity of time the draft electoral rolls are going to be displayed for 7 days only”, the ECP contended.
The commission submitted that as no change can be made in the electoral rolls after issuance of schedule therefore requested for extension of 14 days to enable the public to inspect the electoral rolls and incorporate the changes in the electoral rolls.
The ECP informed that delimitation of local councils/wards started in March 2015 and the delimitation authorities were required to finalise the hearing of objections by 26th July. But due to huge pendency of objections/appeals the delimitation authorities have requested for extension of time. After the final disposal of objections by the delimitation authorities, the changes are to be incorporated in the preliminary delimitation. This process is also time consuming because the delimitation of councils/wards is again to be publicly notified.
The commission further informed that Punjab has recently issued the Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance, No. XVII of 2015, whereby certain sections of Punjab LG Act have been fully and partially substituted.It prayed to the apex court that time for conduct of local government elections in the provinces of Punjab and Sindh may be extended for at least 30 days.