SC directs Secretary ECP to finalise LG polls schedule

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court directed the Secretary, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday to finalise a schedule for local government elections for the provinces.

The SC resumed the hearing today to decide the final dates to hold LG polls for Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as Cantonment Boards.

The court questioned why the people of the provinces were deprived of their rights as polls were not held since five years and 20 days.

Election Commission officials responded that the schedule for the province of KP should be finalised for April this year, for Punjab it should be fixed for November this year, and for Sindh it should be set for February 2016.

A three member bench headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja was hearing the case and remarked that with the way things were going it didn’t seem that any LG polls would be held even within the next 10 years in the provinces.

Earlier today, Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani said that the dates that are finalised today will have to be the dates to hold the polls.

The bench also heard the petition regarding the decision whether to send a contempt of court notice to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif or not, for not holding LG polls in Cantonment Board areas.

The SC on Friday had sought assistance from the Attorney General (AG) regarding the contempt petition filed against the PM.

Justice Jawwad said that the matter has become a joke since it has been 17 years since polls were held in Cantonment Board areas, adding that the court intends to send a contempt notice to the PM.