ISLAMABAD (National Times) – The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday filed a contempt of court plea against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the federal government after the ECP failed to conduct the local government (LG) elections in the capital.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) had ordered the ECP to conduct the LG polls on Saturday (Dec 31). Interior secretary and cabinet secretary have also been nominated as respondents. The plea stated that as the ECP and federal government failed to comply with the order of the IHC regarding holding LG polls in the capital, they must be proceeded against for the contempt of court.
Earlier, sources said, the ECP contended that the LG elections could not be held on such a short notice as the required workforce was on winter vacation. Though it vowed to conduct polls in the city s 101 union councils. It must be noted that the bill increasing the number of UCs from 101 to 125 in the city was passed by the National Assembly amid uproar earlier this month. On this basis, the ECP postponed the elections citing change in delimitation as the reason. The PTI and the JI moved the IHC against notification that resulted in its quashing.
The word battle soured between the governmet and the PTI as Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that up to four months were required to hold the election and cited security concerns in the wake of Islamabad attack as one of the reasons. He received flak from political opponents for saying so.
However, the government and the ECP filed a plea against the IHC order, seeking postponement of the elections and nominated the PTI and Jamat-e-Islami (JI) as respondents on Saturday morning.
It merits mention that the PTI and the JI had moved the court against notification issued by the ECP calling for postponement of the elections. The court issued a verdict against the postponement wherein it stated that if the provincial or federal government overstepped its legislative or executive authority to make the local government powerless, such exercise would fall foul of Article 140A of the Constitution and liable to be struck down by the court.
The PTI chief said that by defying the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to conduct polls in Islamabad on Dec 31, the ECP had proved once again that “it is a B-team of the imported government and its patrons”.
