Sunday, President Arif Alvi vetoed an amendment bill that would have increased the number of existing union councils in Islamabad, arguing that the measure would “further postpone local government elections.”
The move comes one day after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disregarded court orders to hold local government elections on December 31, resulting in a new wave of litigation.
By clause (1) (b) of Article 75 of the Constitution, according to a statement issued by the President’s Secretariat, President Alvi “returned unsigned the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2022.”
The revisions propose increasing the number of union councils in the Islamabad Capital Territory from 101 to 125. It also permits the mayor and deputy mayor to be directly elected by the public as joint candidates.
The bill was passed by the National Assembly on December 22 and the Senate on December 23, leaving only the president’s signature to become law.
The bill was vetoed by the president because it would further delay local government elections.
“The federal government’s hasty actions caused the election process to be delayed twice, which is antithetical to democracy,” the statement stated.
It said that polls could not be held in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) due to the federal government’s “malafide activities.”
Alvi stated that the ECP had scheduled elections for local government in ICT on July 31, 2022, following the delimitation of 50 union councils.
“Despite the announcement of the election date, the federal government expanded the number of union councils from 50 to 101, delaying the polls,” he noted.
Following the delineation of 101 Union Councils, the ECP has decided to hold elections in ICT on December 31, 2022, according to the president. “Section 2 of the current bill establishes 125 Union Councils inside the ICT. Elections set for December 31, 2022, have been postponed once more.”
He noted that, per Section 3 of the current bill, the method of electing the mayor and deputy mayor has changed following the publication of the election schedule.
Litigation
In the most recent dispute, the federal government contested the “hurried” ruling of the IHC, and the ECP explained in writing to the court why it was unable to conduct yesterday’s elections.
In the meantime, the opposition PTI filed contempt charges against both the government and the election body.
In addition, IHC Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir issued the detailed order issued the day before in response to the petitions of PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) requesting that the ECP hold elections on December 31.
In its lengthy ruling, the court stated, “The federal government’s decision to expand the number of union councils from 101 to 125 was based on a summary submitted by the Special Secretary of the Ministry of Interior.
Neither the summary [prepared] for the Cabinet nor the Notification of 19 December 2022, however, [cite] any reasonable basis [for raising the number of UCs].
The court remarked that ECP had released the poll schedule on Oct 20. The ECP then completed all processes necessary for the conduct of elections. According to the schedule, the election day was December 31.
“The Federal Government was aware of the schedule, but at the eleventh hour issued the Dec. 19 notification based on unconfirmed statistics/information provided by the Administrator of the Municipal Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) without realizing that elections would be held twelve days later,” the court order stated, adding that “the conduct portrayed by the Federal Government appears to conflict with the law on the subject.”
“It can also be seen from the fact that, despite specific direction, the exclusive response in black and white was not submitted, preventing the court from judging the reasons given for the enhancement of the UCs, and when no response has been submitted, there is no alternative but to presume that it had no reason to put forth.”
Intra-court appeal
The federal government’s Intra court appeal was filed by Deputy Attorney General Munawar Iqbal Duggal.
In its appeal, which will be heard by a two-member division bench the following week, the government stated that the single-member bench “has proceeded in haste to pass the impugned order…as writ petitions [of PTI and JI] were filed on Dec 28 and were taken up for hearing…the same day and [court] issued notices to the Respondents for Dec 29 for taking up at 2:30 pm.”
According to the appeal, the government was not given sufficient time to provide a written response to these petitions before the court rendered its decision.
In addition, it was stated that the judge viewed the ECP as an executive body and ordered the commission to hold elections. It was noted that the ECP is a constitutional venue.
Commission’s explanation
In its appeal against the IHC judgment, the ECP detailed its activities following receiving notice from the court on December 28.
It adds that the Constitution vested the commission with the authority to “organize and conduct elections and make all necessary arrangements to guarantee that elections are conducted honestly, justly, fairly, and in conformity with the law.”
The ECP stated that after receiving the IHC’s directive on December 29th, “the Special Secretary ECP and his legal team met with the Attorney General of Pakistan for advice.”
The Attorney General contacted the Minister for Law and Justice Division via telephone…the AG relayed the ECP’s position to the Minister, who agreed to hold elections within four months”. According to the ECP, “the Attorney General also telephoned the Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior and instructed him to hold a meeting with ECP personnel regarding the deadline.”
It was stated that the ECP is prepared to organize elections in 120 days and that two months are needed for delimitation, 10 days for the printing of electoral rolls, and 50 to 55 days for the conduct of elections, pending the provision of necessary help, maps, and data, etc.
The commission stated that the single-member bench was unaware that elections were not feasible under the circumstances, as the ballot papers were with the Printing Corporation of Pakistan and the election process requires the deployment of 14,000 polling personnel to perform duties at 1,039 polling stations and 3,039 polling booths.
The ECP stated that it also required the mobilization of approximately one thousand vehicles for polling day.
Explaining the last-ditch effort to hold the polls on December 31, the commission noted that following the IHC’s order, the ECP “contacted the Secretary of the Interior Division by telephone to provide security measures and logistical support. The Secretary of the Interior Division has stated unable to provide such assistance, and “this request has also been made via letter dated December 30, 2022, sent via special messenger and fax.” This response is awaited.”
PTI’s claim
In their appeal seeking contempt proceedings against the Chief Election Commissioner, ECP members, and secretaries of interior and cabinet divisions, the PTI asserts that the respondents were “quite well aware of the explicit and unambiguous directives” of the IHC.
However, they “failed to comply with the instructions and, while being a regulator, completely failed to fulfill and discharge its constitutional mandate and duty to organize elections by December 31, 2022.”
The PTI argues that the ECP’s attitude that the secretary of the interior had stated an inability to provide support is an admission that the federal government disregarded the court’s directive, despite the unambiguous directive to provide all support to the commission for the conduct of LG elections.
It urged that contempt proceedings be initiated against the ECP and the secretaries of the interior and cabinet divisions for disregarding court orders.
