ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the federal government is not in a position to hold local government elections in Islamabad.
“We respect the court [Islamabad High Court], but holding the elections is not possible as the arrangements cannot be made in such a short period,” the federal minister told private TV.
He added that as many as 1,000 polling stations needed security, election material is still not deployed at the stations and the polling staff will also be needed. “This isn’t possible.”
Read more: IHC orders ECP to hold Islamabad Local Government elections tomorrow
The IHC had earlier directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold local government elections in the capital on December 31 after it accepted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) petitions seeking to nullify ECP’s decision to postpone the local polls.
“The federal government is directed to provide all the assistance to the Election Commission of Pakistan for conducting the local bodies’ elections as mandated by the Constitution,” Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir said in a one-page short order
