President Dr Arif Alvi has refused to sign a government bill aimed at increasing the number of union councils (UCs) in the federal capital and returned the legislation unsigned in terms of clause (1) (b) of Article 75 of the Constitution.
The Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2022, a government bill which was recently passed by the Parliament was sent to the president that was returned.
“The Bill was returned by observing that it would further delay the Local Government elections…Actions of the Federal Government taken in hurry resulted in delaying election process, twice, which was anathema to democracy,” the President said in a statement on Sunday.
It was further stated that elections could not be held in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) due to “malafide actions” of the federal government.He stated that after completion of delimitation of 50 Union Councils, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced elections of Local Government in ICT on 31st July 2022.
