MULTAN
Former secretary Election Commission of Pakistan Kanwar Dilshad has anticipated that the local government elections are not likely to take place before two years.
Talking to The Nation here on Tuesday, he added that the government would have to carry out constitutional amendment for the compliance with the LHC order regarding delimitation for local government polls.
“Through constitutional amendment, they’ll have to write a sentence in Article 224 of the constitution that the Election Commission may do delimitation for local government election. Earlier, this Article empowers Election Commission to do delimitations only for national and provincial constituencies,” he further explained.
He warned that the entire process would stand illegal if the census was not held before any other step. He added that the census would be followed by delimitation of constituencies and  preparation of voter lists. “It’s a very long process and I don’t think it can be done in less than two years,” he asserted. He explained that the country had about eight thousand local bodies constituencies and their delimitation would take at least one year followed by the phase of objections.
To a query, he declined to express any optimism on the future of the incumbent government. “The Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif is encircled by unwise friends who are pushing him towards another October 12,” he feared.