The Election Commission of Pakistan has challenged amendments in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Local Councils Rules 2014 on Conduct of Elections, in the Peshawar High Court.
The legislation lets political parties to enforce changes in previously submitted tehsil, district and town council lists of reserved seat candidates. The petition was filed by the councel for ECP secretary Zeeshan Munir Paracha. Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth issued notices to the provincial government to submit its response before the next hearing.
Paracha told the court that political parties are to submit a list of candidates that they want to nominate for the reserved seats in tehsil, district and town councils before the local government elections. He also said that, once the polls are conducted, parties will not be allowed to make changes to the lists, under the law. According to Peracha, “Following amendments, Section 10-A of the amended rules empowers political parties to make the changes after the elections are held, which is against the law.”
Peracha asked the court to cancel the amendments since they contradict the Constitution. After hearing the preliminary arguments, the court issued notices to the provincial government and KP advocate general to respond to the petition.
