SARDAR SIKANDER SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD: The electoral body has agreed to the Punjab government’s proposal to hold phase-wise local government elections in the province on the dates falling between December 15 andJanuary 15, directing the provincial government to share its relevant plan in this regard.

The development surfaced in a meeting between the senior officials of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Punjab government held at the ECP Secretariat on Thursday with Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja in the chair.

All the four members of the provincial cabinet committee constituted by the Chief Minister of Punjab, Maryam Nawaz, to hold consultation with the electoral body to finalise LG polls’ date attended the meeting.

The committee is headed by Punjab Local Government Minister Zeeshan Rafiq and comprises Mines Minister Sher Ali Gorchani, Agriculture Minister Ashiq Hussain Shah and Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat.

Chief Secretary of Punjab Zahid Akhtar Zaman informed the meeting that Punjab government was ready to hold phase-wise LG elections in the province on the dates falling between the coming 15 December and 15 January keeping in view the availability of government teachers to be assigned election duties, following annual winter vacations in the government schools in the province during that period.

The ECP directed the provincial government to share the relevant plan for holding phase-wise elections.

The meeting was also informed that the delimitation of constituencies for LG elections in Punjab was completed.

On August 10, the ECP had contacted the Punjab government through a letter for constituting a committee of the provincial cabinet in order to hold consultations between the provincial government and the electoral body.

Section 219(3) of the Elections Act 2017 provides that the ECP shall, in consultation with the federal or the provincial government concerned, make an announcement of the date or dates on which the elections to a local government shall be conducted in a province, a cantonment or the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

The LGs’ term in Punjab expired on 31 December 2021.

The ECP has repeatedly said in official statements that “whenever” it finalises the LG polls’ preparations, the LG laws are amended by the governments concerned, causing a delay in the elections.

Article 218(3) of the Constitution says, “It shall be the ECP’s duty to organise and conduct the elections, and to make such arrangements as are necessary, to ensure that an election is conducted honestly, justly, fairly, and in accordance with law, and that corrupt practices are guarded against.”