President returns Islamabad LG bill unsigned

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has returned unsigned the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in terms of clause (1) (b) of Article 75 of the Constitution. The Bill was returned with the observation that it would further delay the Local Government elections.

“Actions of the Federal Government taken in hurry resulted in delaying election process twice, which was anathema to democracy,” President Dr Arif Alvi observed while returning unsigned the bill.

It was further stated, “Elections could not be held in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) due to the following mala fide actions of Federal Government :- i) After completion of delimitation of 50 Union Councils, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced the elections of Local Government in ICT on 31st July 2022. Despite announcement of polling date, the Federal Government increased the number of Union Councils from 50 to 101, resulting into postponement of elections. ii) After demarcation of 101 Union Councils, the ECP decided to hold elections in ICT on 31st December 2022. Section 2 of current Bill provides for 125 Union Councils in the ICT. Therefore, elections scheduled for 31st December 2022 have been again postponed. iii) As per Section 3 of current Bill, mode of elections of Mayor and Deputy Mayor has been changed after announcement of schedule of elections.”