IHC directs ECP to hold LG polls in capital within 120 days.

ISLAMABAD -- The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold Local Government (LG) elections in the federal capital within 120 days. A two-member bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz issued the directions while hearing the intra-court appeals (ICAs) of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the federal government against the single-bench's decision about the local bodies' elections in the federal capital. The court ordered to hold the LG polls while nullifying the electoral body's decision to defer the polls and disposed of the ICA.

The federation and the ECP filed the ICA and cited respondents including PTI leader Ali Nawaz Awan and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Mian Muhammad Aslam. In the ICA, they had challenged a single member bench's verdict which had accepted the petition moved by Ali Nawaz Awan through his counsels Sardar Taimoor Aslam Khan Advocate and Mudassar Abbas Advocate challenging the ECP's notification to postpone the local bodies elections in the federal capital which were scheduled to take place on December 31.

In its order, the IHC directed the ECP to hold local body elections within 120 days in the federal capital while preventing the number of union councils (UCs) from being increased from the present number of 125. During the hearing, Justice Aamer asked that the legislation has been done and are the 125 UCs still there. He said that the government has kept the authority of further increasing the number of UCs to itself. He added that in his opinion, there...