LB elections in Islamabad stuck in controversy, confusion

ISLAMABAD: Like local council elections in provinces, which have so far been held or are yet to be organised, the approaching polls in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) are also mired in controversy and confusion.
The provincial administrations were not willing to hold the local elections and were pushed hard by the Supreme Court to organise the exercise without further delay. It happened in the case of the federal government in regard to the local polls in ICT.
A major reason is the lack of local law, which is yet to be enacted by the Parliament or promulgated through a presidential ordinance. But even without the legislation, the election schedule has been issued for polling on July 25 on the Supreme Court orders.
During hearings on the continued delay in holding local polls in provinces and ICT, the attorney general had told the apex court that the government has prepared the draft of the law for the capital to move it in the Parliament.
On March 6, the court ordered that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should go ahead with holding the polls in the light of this draft law. It was then believed that the proposed law would be passed by the Parliament in the next couple of months to hold the elections on July 25, the date fixed by the court.
To avoid any adverse proceedings by the court, the ECP issued the election schedule even without having the relevant law in place.“The ECP thought that the lack of law may render the whole exercise seriously flawed and create legal complications at some point,” an official told The News. “Instead of approaching the government for enactment of law, the ECP has gone to the apex court and narrated its difficulties.”
Just 20 days after the court order, the federal government got the bill passed from the National Assembly. But for months the bill is stuck in the Senate where the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is in no position to approve it and has to look toward the

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
The bill can be passed within no time if the PML-N and opposition parties in the Senate arrive at consensus.While okaying the bill in the National Assembly, the PML-N had rejected a major PPP amendment that wanted the party-based polls. “At least people should know where they are casting their vote. If you plough plant of corruption, result will be negative. Have faith in your people,” leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah had stated.
The recent elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) were organised on party basis while the Lahore High Court (LHC) has ordered the Punjab government to hold party basis polls.The ICT law passed by the Assembly has different highlights. The age limit of ‘youth’ members of the new Metropolitan Corporation (MC) and Union Councils of the ICT has been considerably relaxed, which is unique in the electoral history.
Another major highlight is that those contesting for the offices of the mayor and deputy mayor will not be required to be members of the MC. Thus, a non-member, favoured by the government, will be elected.
Yet another critical clause provides that the MC members will not be directly elected but will be indirectly chosen. However, the Union Council (UC) members will be directly elected. While it is a mandatory qualification for all the contesting candidates to be not less than 25 years of age, a ‘youth member’ can be under this limit, but obviously above 18 years, which is the age specified for voters.
Under section 24 of the new law, a person shall be qualified to be elected as a member or to hold an elected office of a local government in the ICT if he, except the youth member, is not less than 25 years of age on the last day fixed for filing the nomination papers.
The women, peasants or workers, technocrats, youth, and non-Muslims will be elected to the MC by the UC members, present and voting. So, if some UC members absent themselves from the election, they will not matter as far as such election will be concerned.
According to another key provision, the mayor and deputy mayor of the MC will be elected as joint candidates, meaning they will form a panel, and can’t contest independently.Under the law, it will not be essential that the MC mayor and deputy mayor will be elected by all the UC members. Rather they will be chosen by the UC members present and voting.
Every UC will have one youth member apart from six general members, two women, one peasant or worker and one non-Muslim when there are at least 200 non-Muslim voters registered in the concerned UC.
A contesting candidate will incur disqualification if he or she used for election the platform, flag, symbol, affiliation and financial or material resources or support of a political, religious, ethnic or sectarian party or organisation. This is intended to keep the political parties away from the election.