JI moves IHC against withdrawal of local bodies’ polls schedule by ECP

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Tuesday filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), seeking the annulment of the notification issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the withdrawal of the schedule for local bodies (LBs) elections in Islamabad, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The IHC issued a notice to the ECP and ordered it to submit a reply by January 27.

Justice Muhammad Azam Khan heard the JI’s petition.

JI Islamabad Ameer Nasrullah Randhawa appeared in the court along with his lawyer Chaudhry Shoaib Ahmad, who said that earlier the party had challenged the Local Government Amendment Ordinance. “Now the ECP has withdrawn the schedule for the LBs polls,” he said, adding that last time elections were held in the federal capital in 2015 after which the local government was formed for a period of five years.

The lawyer said that as per the relevant law, fresh elections should be held within 120 days after the completion of a term by a local government.

He prayed to the court to declare the ECP’s notification null and void and order the holding of the polls.

He also requested the court to suspend the notification until the next hearing scheduled for January 27.

Reporter: Ihtesham Kiani