Daily Times

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to furnish a “realistic” timeline for holding local government polls in the capital – which are scheduled to take place on December 31. The development came after Justice Arbab Tahir took up the petition of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) seeking to nullify ECP’s decision to postpone the local government elections. The ECP clearly told the court that it could not hold elections on December 31 as it required as many as 60 days for the delimitation and also needed time to ensure that all the polling material is distributed. The judge then told the election commission to provide a timeline as to when it plans on holding the polls. If the court concludes tomorrow that the elections cannot be held, then it will view the timeline. Not only that, but Justice Tahir also asked the election body to submit the details of the funds utilised so far for the elections as he stressed not allowing the taxpayer’s money to go to waste. Attorney-General for Pakistan (AGP) Ashtar Ausaf Ali – who was summoned for assisting the court with the case – advised recovering the money from the federal cabinet if the elections do not take place on the stipulated time and the printing process has to be done all over again. After hearing arguments, the hearing was adjourned till December 30 (Friday).