Despite issuance of schedule, local govt elections in Islamabad may see delay.

ISLAMABAD -- Local government elections, which are slated to be held in Islamabad on July 31, could face a delay as the ruling PML-N and PPP have decided to increase the number of union councils from the current 50 to 101.

On Monday, the Ministry of Interior issued a notification, increasing the numbers of the union councils.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had on June 2 issued a schedule for holding elections in 50 union councils of the capital on July 31.

Under the schedule, over 1,000 people had obtained nomination papers from the district election office.

On the other hand, the two ruling parties recently filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), seeking a delay in the elections till the delimitation of the constituencies.

PML-N, PPP want number of union councils increased from 50 to 101

The court will take up the petition on Wednesday. If the court accepts the new notification of increasing union councils, sources in the ECP said, the election body will have to carry out a delimitation of the 101 UCs before issuing a new election schedule. In such a case, the LG elections could be delayed by a few months.

The sources said after issuance of the local government schedule last week, the ruling PML-N and PPP had approached the IHC, seeking a revised election schedule after increasing the number of the UCs to 101.

When the petitioners were asked if a notification had been published in the Gazette of Pakistan, the petitioners replied in the negative.

The petitioners then withdrew the case after stating that they would get the notification published in gazette of Pakistan.

Subsequently, the Ministry of Interior on Monday (June 13) issued the notification increasing the number of union councils from 50 to 101. Now, the case will be heard in the IHC again on Wednesday (today).

The sources in the ECP said the election body...