SC rejects KP’s request to change LB elections schedule

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday rejected the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government's request for a change in the schedule of local bodies elections.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, heard the KP government's appeal against the Peshawar High Court's (PHC) order to hold local bodies elections in the province on the party basis.

The advocate general KP pleaded that elections were not the only matter and true representation was required. There is no provision in the law for the order passed by the PHC. If the court does not grant restraining orders, then allow the date of election to be changed, he requested.

The SC, however, rejected the request, maintaining that the local bodies elections in KP will be held on the party basis as per schedule. It stated that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has taken all the necessary steps to implement the decision of the PHC and that the issue of the local bodies elections schedule had already been delayed for two years.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial said that elections on the party basis lead to disintegration in communities. It is necessary to strengthen the political parties to strengthen democracy in the country. Political parties cannot be excluded from the political process, the judge said. We strongly oppose changing history, he added.

Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah maintained that no political party came to the court nor did they indicate that the PHC decision caused them harm. The court adjourned the hearing of the case indefinitely.

Last week, the SC issued a notice to the ECP in a case pertaining to the PHC's decision regarding the local bodies elections in KP. The PHC had declared the provision of KP Local Government Act for holding elections of village and neighbourhood councils on the non-party basis as unconstitutional.