Schedule of LB polls in capital to be issued today, SC told

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will announce the schedule for the local bodies elections in the federal capital after a span of 23 years today (Friday). The last local bodies polls in the federal capital were held in 1992.
Earlier, the local bodies elections in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) were scheduled to be held on July 25, 2015. However, the elections were not conducted as parliament has not approved the bill.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and comprising Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Qazi Faiz Isa heard the local bodies elections matter of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) on Thursday.
During the hearing, Director General (Law) ECP Muhammad Arshad informed the court that the schedule for the local bodies elections in the federal capital would be announced today (Friday). He however, could not provide the specific date of polling, saying the matter would be placed before the members of the EC and they would finalise the polling date. M Arshad further said that delimitation for the local bodies polls in the federal capital would require at least 40 days.
AAG Amir Rehman submitted that rules for the local bodies polls in Islamabad have been framed and notified on August 20. The chief justice observed that everyone could not come to the federal capital from far-flung areas to meet their elected representatives for addressing their problems but after the local bodies polls, people would be able to get their problems resolved at local level.
Justice Dost observed after exercising their right of franchise in the LB polls, people would be able to solve their problems at the local level. The court ruled that the instant matter would not be disposed of as the experience of repeated dates, given by the EC for conducting the local bodies polls in the province of Sindh and Punjab, was not encouraging.
Meanwhile, the court adjourned the hearing for 40 days.