IHC seeks minutes of cabinet meeting on increase in capital UCs

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday asked the government to share the minutes of the cabinet meeting and summary regarding the increase in the number of union councils (UCs) in Islamabad on January 19.

A two-member bench, headed by IHC Chief Justice Aamir Farooq, conducted the hearing on the intra-court appeals against the court’s decision to hold local government (LG) elections in the federal capital on December 31.

During the hearing, the high court asked the federal government to provide a solid reason for increasing the number of UCs from 101 to 125 for the LG polls in the next hearing. The court warned that it will order to conduct the elections in 101 UCs if the government fails to provide a satisfactory reason.

The IHC chief justice said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was ready to conduct polls in 101 UCs and still is. The court asked what will happen now that elections did not take place.

At this, the lawyer representing a citizen — who approached the court regarding the correction of the voters’ list — said that it was difficult to implement the court’s order in such a short period of time.

“The single bench did not hear us, or the order wouldn’t have been issued,” he said. The court then asked how this affects those who have challenged the voters’ list. “Is it not the district election commissioner’s job to see the voter lists?” questioned the court.

At this, the director general of law at the ECP said it is the authority of the district election commissioner to check the voters’ list. The court said that three days had been given for the correction of voter lists. IHC CJ said that the concerns of the voters will be valid when the single bench’s decision remains intact.

“You have to issue the schedule even if the election has to be held in 101 union councils. The issue of voters will no longer be there if the number of UCs is changed to 125 as per the federal government,” he added.

Justice Farooq further said that the whole process will be repeated once again once the UCs are increased. As per the single bench, he said, the federal government could not provide a concrete reason for increasing the UCs.

The IHC CJ asked the director-general of law how much time will the ECP take in conducting the polls. At this, the ECP’s DG law said that they need 10 days if elections are to be held on 101 UCs. The court adjourned the hearing till January 19.