President Arif Alvi said he will not sign Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2022 into law on Sunday, as it would further delay local bodies elections in the capital.

“Actions of the Federal Government taken in hurry resulted in delaying election process twice, which was anathema to democracy,” a statement from the President House said.

The bill sought to increase the number of union councils in Islamabad, that would require fresh preparations to conduct elections that could take a few months to complete.

The president’s statement also hinted at the delays, calling them ‘malafide actions of Federal Government’.

The statement said that the the government had first raised the number of UCs from 50 to 101, requiring fresh demarcation that forced a delay in elections.

“After demarcation of 101 Union Councils, ECP decided to hold elections in ICT on 31st December 2022. Section 2 of current Bill provides for 125 Union Councils in the ICT,” the statment said, adding that this lead to another postponement.

Elections have already been delayed after the election commission failed to make on Saturday, after one day’s notice from the court. The court set aside the ECP’s order to delay elections on Friday, and ordered them to be held as per original schedule on December 31. However, voters turned up to find that no voting mechanism was in place.