ISLAMABAD: Another political crisis seemed to be in the offing in Pakistan on Saturday after the country’s top election body appealed a court verdict requiring it to conduct local polls in the federal capital during the day, as former prime minister Imran Khan’s party denounced it for committing contempt of court.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) recently announced its decision to delay the local government polls in Islamabad “for the time being” after the government increased the number of administrative units in Islamabad.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), accusing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration of gerrymandering by taking the number of administrative units – known as union councils – from 101 to 125 in the capital city.
Another petition against the ECP decision to delay the polls was also filed by the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party, making an IHC judge nullify the ECP notification and directing its officials to hold the elections on Saturday.
Subsequently, the ECP filed an intra-court appeal against the ruling on Saturday morning when the IHC verdict required it to hold the elections.
“I want to ask the Election Commission why were you not prepared to hold the polls,” asked a senior PTI leader, Asad Umar, in a video message. “How can you say you were not ready?”
“We request the court to give its verdict against the Election Commission which is guilty of committed contempt of court,” he continued. “Its officials should be removed from their posts.”
Ex-PM Khan also reacted to the development while describing the ECP as an extension of the incumbent federal administration.
“By not implementing IHC orders to hold LG elections in Islamabad today, ECP has again shown it is B team of Imported Govt & its backers,” he said in a Twitter post while adding that the ruling coalition was fearful of people.
“Right to vote is a fundamental democratic norm & PTI stands committed to it,” Khan continued.
A leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, took the credit for holding the last local government elections in the federal capital in 2015 after 1979.
He noted the metropolitan organization formed under the last electoral process had completed its tenure in January 2021 while Khan was in power.
“Why didn’t the PTI administration hold local bodies elections in Islamabad for over a year after that,” he asked.
Chaudhry said it was the government’s legal right to determine the number of union councils, adding the ECP was now required to do delimitation work before arranging the elections.
A short order issued by the IHC judge on Friday also directed the federal government to provide “all the assistance to the Election Commission of Pakistan for conducting the local bodies’ elections as mandated by the Constitution.”
Shortly after the issuance of court order, the country’s interior minister Rana Sanaullah said the government was not in a position to hold local government elections in Islamabad.
“We respect the court [Islamabad High Court], but holding the elections is not possible as the arrangements cannot be made in such a short period,” he was quoted as saying by local news channels.
The minister pointed out that about a thousand polling stations needed security, election material had to be dispatched, and polling staff needed to be deployed.
“This isn’t possible,” he added.
