The Lahore High Court has sought the attorney general of Pakistan’s assistance for October 8 as it hears opposition challenges to the Punjab Local Government Act of 2013, particularly the plan for party-less elections.
At the onset of Wednesday’s hearing, the chief justice, who headed the bench, noted that the Supreme Court had issued orders to the provincial governments regarding the local elections.
PPP counsel Sardar Latif Khosa submitted that the Supreme Court had only directed the governments to hold the elections. The question before the LHC, he said, was whether these could be held on a party-less basis.
The PTI counsel submitted that the new local government law allowed the Punjab government to decide whether to hold elections on a party or party-less basis. He said that the Punjab government was delimiting constituencies on its own, though this was the Election Commission’s responsibility. He asked the court to stop the Punjab government from delimiting constituencies and planning party-less elections.
Khosa submitted, in the petition filed on the PPP’s behalf, that the party had intended to contest the elections from a single platform and to local governments which had powers devolved to them as envisaged in the Constitution.
The Punjab Local Government Act of 2013, he said, ran contrary to Articles 9, 10A, 17, 19A, 25, 32 and 140A of the Constitution. He asked the court to declare the Act to be ultra vires of the Constitution.
The PTI and other petitioners submitted that the Punjab Assembly had rejected proposals for party-based elections made during the passing of the new law. They said that the national and provincial assemblies had been formed through party-based elections. Party-less polls at the local level went against the spirit of the Constitution and democracy. They said that such elections would encourage corruption and nepotism. They asked the court to strike down the Punjab Local Government Act of 2013.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2013.