ISLAMABAD: Following amendments to the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has postponed the local body elections, which were scheduled for October 9, until further notice.
“The ECP has decided to keep in abeyance the Election Programme issued by its notification numbered 20/8/2024 for holding local government elections in the Islamabad Capital Territory, till further orders,” it said in a notification issued today.
President Asif Ali Zardari on August 29 gave his assent to the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Amendment Bill, 2024, after it was passed in the National Assembly and the Senate, amid strong protests from the opposition.
In the new bill, the government has increased the number of general seats on union councils (UC) from the current six to nine and women's seats from two to three, according to The news.
According to an amendment to Section 7 of the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Amendment Bill, 2024, the election watchdog will be required to delimit union councils into nine wards for the election of members of general seats. Earlier, there were six wards in one union council.
Pursuant to the replacement of Article 15, the nine general members of each trade union council shall be directly elected by the voters registered in the relevant trade union council.
Meanwhile, an amendment to Section 17 stated that the words, the expression Representation of the People Act, 1976, shall be substituted by Elections Act, 2017.
Another substitution of Article 11 states that there will be a president and vice-president of a trade union council as joint candidates, nine general members, one woman, one peasant or worker or entrepreneur or technocrat, one young member and one non-Muslim.
The electoral commission had previously rescheduled the elections to take place on October 9 instead of September 29 in response to requests from political parties.
“In order to facilitate the participation of various political parties and potential candidates in the electoral process and to provide them with all possible facilities, the electoral commission has officially notified the revised electoral programme, according to which the elections will now be held on 9 October 2024,” the statement said.
