ISLAMABAD : After voicing concerns, President Arif Alvi handed back the Islamabad Local Government (Amendment) Bill on Sunday without signing the document.
The legislation sought to bring the total number of union councils up to 125. In accordance with Section (1) (b) of Article 75 of the Pakistani Constitution, the unsigned measure was returned.
The President of the House said that the aforementioned measure would result in additional delays in the local body elections, adding that because of the federal government’s hasty actions, the elections had already been delayed twice and that a third delay would be unsatisfactory for democracy.
The President House argued that the federal government raised the number of UCs from 50 to 101, which delayed the elections, despite competing delimitations of 50 union councils and the declaration of a polling date of July 31, 2022.
The ECP then declared that elections will be held in the ICT on December 31, 2022, after the completion of the delimitation of 101 UCs. Elections have been postponed once again since section 2 of the aforementioned statute refers to 125 UCs.
According to official communications, the process for electing the mayor and deputy mayor was amended after the release of the timetable for the local government elections under section 3 of the aforementioned statute.