Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary on Wednesday said if the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa failed to hold local government elections on time it would have to face constitutional consequences. A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was hearing the case pertaining to holding of local government (LG) elections in the country.
The bench expressed displeasure that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was not yet ready to hold LG elections and that the provincial government was still debating over a date. Meanwhile, the administrations of Punjab and Balochistan told the bench that they had made preparations for the polls and were ready to hold elections by December 07. Whereas, the Sindh government said it was ready to hold elections on November 27.
Advocate General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Abdul Lateef Yousufzai, however, informed the bench that KP government was still debating over a date for the elections and that preparations in this regard were not completed. Earlier, Yousufzai had informed the court that an amended law had been tabled in the KP provincial assembly with regard to the local government polls and that it would be adopted this week.
He said the process of delimitations had been delayed in the province because KP law minister Israrullah Gandapore, who was overseeing the entire process, was recently killed in a suicide attack. But delimitations had now been completed, Yousufzai had said during Monday's hearing of the case.
Additional Attorney General (AAG) Shah Khawar said a draft had been prepared by the federal government in relation to the holding of municipal elections in the federal capital. However, he quickly added that no date had yet been decided. The Chief Justice said all provinces except for KP were ready to hold polls. He emphasised that the court had high expectations from the federal government as far as local government elections in Islamabad were concerned.
