Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday has announced to hold the first phase of local government (LG) polls in 17 districts of Punjab on May 29.
The election commission has decided to hold the first phase of the Punjab LG polls on May 29. The decision was taken in an important session chaired by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) today.
The ECP spokesperson said in a statement that LG polls will be held in 17 districts of Punjab.
Here are the names of districts:
1. Dera Ghazi Khan
2. Rajanpur
3. Muzaffargarh
4. Sialkot
5. Layyah
6. Khanewal
7. Vihari
8. Bahawalpur
9. Sahiwal
10. Khushab
11. Pakpattan
12. Toba Tek Singh
13. Gujrat
14. Hafizabad
15. Mandi Bahauddin
16. Jhelum
17. Attock
PUNJAB LG LEGISLATION
The government and the opposition had failed to build a consensus over the local government legislation earlier in the month. According to sources, the government had accepted only one recommendation of the opposition.
A committee had reviewed 122 of the total 222 clauses of the bill so far. The government had accepted a proposal of the opposition for holding the mayor’s and union councils’ elections on the same day.
The Punjab government had disproved opposition parties’ proposal to keep the municipal committees intact in the local government’s system.
Opposition parties had also opposed the use of electronic voting machines in elections, which was also unacceptable for the Punjab government. “Around 2,00,000 voting machines and trained staff will be required for EVMs in a limited time,” the opposition argued.
Opposition parties PML-N, PPP as well as government’s ally PML-Q support the presence of municipal committees between the union council and district council. But the PTI insists on the removal of the municipal committees from the local government system, sources said.
Around four more sessions are required to discuss the local government bill, sources told ARY News. The legislation is likely to be approved within one month if no political change took place during the period, sources added.
