Daily Times

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial on Tuesday said that the provincial government had the authority to legislate laws for the local government elections.

The chief justice expressed these views while heading a three-member bench along with Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Ayesha A Malik which heard the petition filed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and others against the Government of Sindh regarding delimitation of constituencies for the election of local bodies. During the course of proceedings, Advocate Khalid Jawed Khan, counsel for the local government representatives who were elected unopposed, said that the delimitation of constituencies could not be done on the basis of mathematical principles. He said if the MQM’s argument was accepted, the constituencies of the provincial and national assemblies of the entire country would be affected.

He said that the delimitation of constituencies was held under the same principle in 2015 when a mayor of MQM was elected.

Addressing the counsel, the chief justice said that the delimitation of constituencies of the national and provincial assembly were also challenged and pending before the Supreme Court.

Advocate Khalid Jawed said that this case was not only of Mominabad or Karachi. “The constituencies across the country could be affected by this case,” he added.

The chief justice said that legislation regarding local government elections was the authority of the provincial government, but some errors were visible during the implementation of the provincial law. He asked could the Election Commission ignore these errors and hold delimitation of constituencies on its own?

The chief justice observed that the difference in population of some union committees was more than 100 percent. The court could only point out the error and not change the law, he added.

Justice Mansoor said that the power regarding delimitation of constituencies was given to the Election Commission in one clause and to the government in the other clause.

The chief justice asked could the number of union committees increase during the delimitation of constituencies. Barrister Dr Farogh Naseem, counsel for the MQM, said that the number of the constituencies could be increased or decreased during the delimitation process.

Justice Mansoor said that the Sindh government had created the structure of local bodies in the law. He asked could the Election Commission change the structure through delimitation of constituencies?

The chief justice said that the Election Commission could do as much as it had authority. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act laid down the procedure for the number of union committees, he added.

Barrister Farogh said that the Sindh government had not clarified any procedure for the number of committees.

Advocate Khalid Jawed said that eight people live in a 110-yard house and three people live in a thousand-yard house in Karachi. While forming the union committee, the Election Commission considered not only the population but also the basic facilities in the constituency, he added.

He said that everything was not proportionate to the population in Pakistan as the largest province in terms of area had the least population. “Karachi needs local government the most,” he added.

Justice Ayesha asked on what basis the Sindh government had made the delimitation of constituencies. If the demarcations were transparent, the delimitation of constituencies would not be controversial, she added.

Khalid Jawed said the Sindh High Court (SHC) gave guidelines for demarcations in 2016, which were being followed. “The MQM, through the same lawyer, challenged Section 10 (1) of the Sindh Local Government Act before the last local body elections,” he added.

He said the SHC then rejected the MQM’s plea as the 2015 law was challenged immediately before the elections. The MQM had not challenged Section 10 (1) again in the Supreme Court till date, he added.