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Summary After Sindh, Punjab is also unable to hold local bodies elections on January 30
LAHORE (Dunya News) – Punjab government has decided to hold elections after conducting new demarcation of the constituencies in the province.
According to official sources, the provincial government with PML-N’s central leadership’s consultation decided not to hold local bodies election on January 30.
The sources said; after declaring new delimitations in Punjab as illegal by the LHC, the government decided to hold elections after conducting new demarcation of the constituencies in the province.
On Tuesday, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has declared new delimitations of the constituencies in the province void.
A full-bench of the high court in its ruling directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct new demarcation of the constituencies in the province.
The court also ruled to hold local bodies elections in accordance with the schedule.
On Monday, Additional Attorney General Naseer Bhutta, while opposing the petition, said the new delimitations were done according to the local government law and now the delimitation process could not be questioned before a court of law. He said that after issuance of the election schedule the delimitations could not be done.
A resident of Toba Tek Singh, Iqrar Hussain had filed the petition in this regard.
Petitioner counsel Muhammad Azhar Siddique said both the benches did not consider the constitutional implication of section 10-A.
He said that under article 199 of the Constitution, the LHC had unlimited powers to take up constitutional and legal issues. He said it was an issue of public interest and doors should not be closed to elect a public representative and the LHC had every authority to settle the issue.
Petitioner counsel had earlier submitted that LHC single bench had given decision in favour of delimitation while another single bench had decided against it. He said that two parallel decisions by the LHC had created anomaly and a large bench should adjudicate upon the matter to remove the irregularity.
He said that the provincial government had taken steps for delimitation of areas for these elections. He said that the authority of delimitation rested with the election commission and the Punjab government action was illegal.
He also said that neither government nor courts could decide about delimitation once election schedule was announced. He requested that the provincial government should be restrained from carrying out delimitation and should also be directed to hold early and party-based elections.
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