President Alvi sits on govt summary for convening joint session

President Arif Alvi is holding back the government’s summary forwarded to him for convening of the joint session of the Parliament for tabling Local Government (Amendment) Bill, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Friday.

The government has decided to convene a joint session of the Parliament next week to pass the Local Government (Amendment) Bill and sent a summary to the Presidency in this regard.

As per official sources, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has sent the summary to the president along with the advice of the prime minister.

It is to be noted here that President Dr Arif Alvi has not yet issued the notification for convening the joint session of the Parliament.

The president had earlier sent back the bill without signing it.

In the next joint session, the Local Bodies (Amendment) Bill will be presented again in the Parliament for approval.

After the approval of the Parliament, it will then be sent again to the president. If the president does not sign the bill within 10 days, it will automatically become an act.

At the onset of the New Year, President Alvi had returned the ICT Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2022 unsigned.

The President returned the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Bill unsigned observing that it would further delay the Local Government elections. “Actions of the Federal Government taken in hurry have resulted in delaying election process twice, which was anathema to democracy,” President Secretariat quoted the president as saying in a press release issued on last Sunday.

It was further stated, “elections could not be held in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) due to the mala fide actions of the federal government.

After completion of delimitation of 50 Union Councils, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced elections of local councils in ICT. Despite announcement of polling date, the government enhanced the number of union councils from 50 to 101, resulting into postponement of elections, President Alvi stated.

After demarcation of 101 Union Councils, the ECP had decided to hold elections in capital territory on 31st December 2022, the president said. “Section 2 of current Bill provides for 125 Union Councils in the ICT, therefore, elections scheduled for 31st December 2022 have been again postponed,” he said.

In section 3 of the current bill, mode of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor elections has been changed after announcement of the election schedule, the president further observed.

Reporter: Usman Khan