LAHORE - The Lahore High Court Wednesday annulled delimitation of a dozens of City’s union councils made by the Election Commissioners, Punjab for upcoming local government election.
The court ordered the election commissioner to hear the petitioners afresh and decide their matters regarding the delimitation of union councils on merit.
A large number of petitioners from different constituencies had filed petitions and submitted that the delimitations were done without hearing them.
Therefore, the delimitations were wrong. They prayed the court to set aside the demarcation of union councils in the city and order the EC to hear them prior dividing the areas of union councils.
The court allowed their petitions and set aside delimitations with directions to the EC to hear the petitioners first for delimitations of their UCs.
In another petition, LHC Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore High Court requested the Chief Justice to to constitute a larger bench against seats reserved for women, youth, non-Muslims and others in upcoming local government election.
Pakistan Awami Tehreek and others had filed petitions and submitted that Women, youth, non-Muslims and others all had equal rights under the Constitution. But the government had made laws which had deprived all of them, they said. They contended that the elected members were likely to be purchased as means of commodity if the indirect elections were held in the country.
Article 25 of the Constitution guaranteed equality for the citizens and if women, minorities and others were deprived of taking part in the election it would be the negation of the said Article which was unconstitutional.
The petitioners prayed the court to set side sections 2, 4 and 8 of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance for being ultra vires to the Constitution.