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Thursday March 28, 2024

Publication of census data: ECP once again writes to ministries of Law, Justice, Parliamentary Affairs

By Mumtaz Alvi
October 15, 2020

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Wednesday again directed the ministries of Law and Justice and Parliamentary Affairs writing a letter regarding official publication of the final census data and decided to invite the secretaries concerned to assist the commission in next meeting on this count.

The commission, in a meeting here, also noted that the members of the committee set up by the Punjab government were directed on August 5, 2020 that the Punjab government should hold Local Government elections (Upper Tier) and Village and Neighborhood Council elections.

However, despite several reminders, no meaningful reply has been received from the Punjab government. The ECP also directed the office to send a reminder letter to the Punjab government.

The ECP noted that since the delimitation of electoral units is not required for local government elections (Upper Tier), the ECP has already notified the electoral units under Section 84 of the Punjab Local Government Act, 2019. Therefore, the Election Commission considers that there is no legal justification for postponing the local government elections.

Regarding the official publication of the final census data, the ECP also said that despite several letters to the Ministry of Law and Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, no progress had been made on the official publication of the census.

Therefore, the Election Commission issued instructions to re-write letters of reminder to both the ministries. In the next ECP meeting, the secretaries of both the ministries should be invited to assist the ECP.

The ECP meeting was chaired by Sikandar Sultan Raja, Chief Election Commissioner. The meeting was attended by members of the Election Commission, Secretary Election Commission, DG Law and senior officers of Election Commission. The Secretary Election Commission briefed the Election Commission about the letter dated October 10, 2020 from the Punjab government and said that the Election Commission had given the Punjab government a deadline of October 13, 2020 to name the Village and Neighborhood Councils.

Regarding which the provincial government of Punjab has written that a summary was sent to the Punjab chief minister in this regard. On which the Punjab chief minister asked to keep this summary in the Cabinet meeting to be held on October 6, 2020 so that it can be considered and approved by the Cabinet.

After considering this, the Cabinet has decided that the Cabinet Committee will review the names of Village Neighborhoods and make its recommendations to the provincial cabinet. The committee will issue public notices in this regard so that the names of Village and Neighborhoods may be given.

The ECP has been asked by the provincial government to provide adequate time for completion of the above process and issuance of public notices as time is required for hearing on objections and suggestions and completion of Village Venerable Hood names.

Therefore, for the completion of the above functions, the publication of the initial delimitation of Village and Neighborhood, which the Election Commission has decided to do on October 15, 2020, should be postponed till the decision of the government of Punjab.

During the meeting, the ECP noted that the Punjab government had asked for more time to propose the names of Village and Neighborhood and did not give any final date and time for the completion of the above work.

It was decided to write a letter to the Punjab government that it should inform the ECP in writing of the time required for the approval of the names of Village Panchayat and Neighborhood Councils.

It was necessary for taking a proper decision after considering the request of the Punjab government, as the ECP has already postponed the initial publication of the demarcations for 15 days. Moreover, the Punjab government should be reminded of the fact that the ECP is bound to hold elections within the time frame given in the constitution and law.