Karachi
The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued notices on Friday seeking comments from the chief election commissioner, the local government secretary and other authorities on a petition challenging the passage of an amendment bill abolishing secret balloting for the election of mayors and other local government representatives.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has challenged the adoption of the third and fourth amendments to the local government law by the PPP government.
The changes have paved the way for show of hands as a way to elect office-bearers of local governments as well as for an increase in the number of its non-elected members.
Former National Assembly deputy speaker Syed Zafar Ali Shah has filed the petition, citing the chief election commissioner, the provincial chief secretary and the local government and law secretaries as respondents.
He has submitted that the Sindh Assembly passed the bill on January 18 making changes to the procedures for the election of the mayor, deputy mayor, chairman, vice chairman and other elected members of union councils and union committees in the province.
The petitioner says the amendment calls for abolishing secret balloting for the election of these representatives. “Instead the members will raise their hands in the house in order to vote in the favour of any elected representatives.”
The petitioner’s counsel, Syed Mureed Ali Shah, argued before high court on Friday that the amendment was made to sub-sections 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of Section 18 of the Sindh Local Government Act (SLGA) 2013. He submitted thatthe provisions of the SLG (3rd Amendment) Act, 2015 and the SLG (Amendment) Bill were ultra vires of articles 32, 51(1), 106(1), 140-A and 226 of the constitution and Section 47A of the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1976 asArticle 140-A of the constitution provides that “a local government system shall be devolved to the elected representatives of the local government and not to the indirectly elected members on reserved seats”.
He said Article 32 of the constitution “does not mention that special representation will be given to the youth and non-Muslims”.
He submitted that the amendment had given equal representation to the directly elected members and indirectly elected members, which was against the norms of democracy and made the council meaningless.
The counsel contended that the amendment enabled the indirectly elected members to remove the directly elected chairman and vice chairman and made the functions of the council hostage to the indirectly elected members as in some councils the number of the indirectly elected members was greater than that of the directly elected members.
He was of the view that the amendment would promote favouritism and nepotism and strengthen the grip of the political patties’ leaders over allocating/ nominating their favourites for the reserved seats, which would make the local bodies system meaningless for the common man.
He mentioned that “Article 226 provides that all elections under the constitution shall be by secret ballot and balloting through the show of hands will increase corrupt practices and expression of free will of the members for exercising their votes as per theirconscience will be impossible and also lend the members to face hardships, hazards and political victimization”.
“This is a violation of Article 226 of the constitution,” the lawyer argued, explaining the article in question said that all the elections under the constitution, other than those of the prime minister and the chief minister, would be held through secret balloting. Therefore, he pleaded with the court to declare the amendment illegal and strike it down.
The petitioner has also challenged the third amendment made to the SLGA 2013 on August 27, 2015. He says the changes were made to sub-sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 of Section 18 of the SLGA, 2013.
Through these amendments, he says, the number of the non-elected members of the union committees and union councils have been increased to five, which is equal to that of the elected members.
A union council/committee is to have a chairman, vice chairman and four general members.
A division bench headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi issued notices to the federal and provincial law officers, directing them to file comments of the authorities byJanuary 29.