News Desk
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) central leader Asad Umar issued directions to the party activists in Islamabad to continue their electoral campaign for the local government polls even after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday postponed the elections.
The ECP on Tuesday heard from concerned stakeholders about holding the local government polls on December 31 following directions from the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
However, Asad Umer said he was hopeful that the court would take a decision that would be useful for the residents of the capital city.
Change of date in LG poll
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday on the temporary delay in local government polls and the stance adopted by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Asad Umer criticized the PDM, adding that it was the PDM that challenged an ordinance in the court during the tenure of the PTI-led government in the federal capital, about increasing the number of union councils in there. But ironically now PDM is going to court to increase the number, he further said.
The PTI leader added that all such moves are nothing but delaying tactics as leaders of PDM knew about a possible defeat in the local body polls. He further added that even with the reports from intelligence agencies about a possible victory for PTI, the leaders from PDM are worried about postponing the elections time and again.
Increasing the number of UCs
Earlier, the PML-N had submitted an application to the IHC, requesting the apex court to delay the LG polls after the government had hurriedly passed a law to increase the number of union councils in the federal capital in the context of an increase in population.
Meanwhile, former Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf told the court that the Islamabad administration had suggested increasing the number of UCs in line with an increase in the federal capital’s population against the last census.
The last census maintained that the population of the federal capital had more than doubled from about 800,000 in 1998 to reach over 2 million in 2017.
After listening to representatives of all parties the ECP announced to temporarily postpone the local government polls in Islamabad.
