PM directs Punjab govt to ensure early completion of LB govts

Orders Punjab govt to withdraw legislation of secret ballot

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered the Punjab government to withdraw the legislation regarding secret ballot and ensure the earliest completion of local bodies governments in the biggest province of the country.

The Punjab government has initiated the process to withdraw the legislation andhas promulgated a legislation under which elections of chairmen and vice-chairmen of district council, municipal committee and mayor and deputy mayor of metropolitan corporation and municipal corporations were to be held by “show of hand” instead of earlier provision of ‘secret balloting’.

The number of reserved seats was also increased through this legislation. The legislation was introduced to stop practice of some powerful factions which used to pressurise, threaten and harass elected members of local bodies to cast vote in favour of candidates ‘nominated’.

These powerful players also used to buy loyalties of members elected on tickets of other parties in favour of their ‘designated’ candidates. However, the opposition parties, including PTI and PML-Q, challenged this legislation in the Lahore High Court and the process of completion of local bodies was halted. The issue was pending for many months. Last week, local bodies system and elected members associated with it played a key role in Turkey in averting a coup attempt and later citizens punished those on roads who were staging the coup.

Monitoring unnecessary delay in the completion of process of local bodies’ governments in Punjab, the prime minister ordered the Punjab government to withdraw the legislation abolishing the secret balloting system a few weeks back.

At present, the prime minister office is monitoring the developments on the count on daily basis and also updating the premier. These instructions were given to the Punjab government so that the only hurdle in completion of local bodies system, the petitions challenging this legislation, may become infructuous.

According to the sources, it was also argued that Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was not completed and thus even if the legislation is withdrawn the process will not be completed. However, the sources said, the prime minister said that ECP will be completed with due course of time but the basic hurdle, the new legislation, should be removed as early as possible. 

 The ECP has to be competed till July 25, 2016 under the Constitution and government has been ordered to submit the notification of appointment of four members of ECP in the apex court by this deadline.

The strict orders of prime minister and continuous monitoring of the developments have created a hope that local bodies system will be completed in Punjab in next month provided political parties agreed on names of ECP members instead of creating a new crisis on it. Under the constitutional mechanism, if government and opposition leader would not agree on names of ECP members, they will send their names to a parliamentary committee which will decide final names in the given time.