The National Assembly passed the Islamabad Local Government Amendment Bill, 2024 by a majority vote on Monday as the opposition parties opposed it.

Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar moved the bill in the session presided over by NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.

According to the bill, the number of elected representatives at the Union Council level has been increased in the Islamabad Local Government Elections Act.

Previously, only the positions of chairman and vice chairman existed at the UC level. The current bill proposes the addition of 13 more representatives to be elected, along with the chairman and vice-chairman.

In addition to the chairman and vice-chairman, it added that nine UC members would also be elected. Furthermore, one each from the categories of farmer/labourer, minority, youth, and woman would also be elected at the UC level.

At the UC level, a total of 15 representatives would be elected through voting. The text of the bill suggests that increasing the number of local representatives at the UC level would lead to a better transfer of powers to the grassroots level, as more elected officials would be in direct contact with the people.

The bill also mentions that the general seat candidates would be directly elected while the general council candidates would be elected through secret ballot. After the completion of the electoral process, the UC secretary would convene a meeting where the election of the chairman and vice chairman would take place under the secretary’s chairmanship.

“The brief facts leading to amendment in Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015 are that Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act was promulgated in 2015 to establish an elected Local Government System. The term of Local Government of ICT expired on 14.02.2021 and the Federal Government and the Election Commission are obligated to conduct the elections within 120 days in terms of Section 219 (4) of the Elections Act, 2017,” it stated.

“In order to complete necessary arrangements for conduct of Local Government Elections in Islamabad, the ECP asked for issuance of notification regarding number of reserved seats of Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) and amendment in Section-17 of the ICT Local Government Act, 2015 to the effect that ‘the Representation of the People Act, 1976’ should be replaced with ‘Elections Act, 2017’,” it added.