QUETTA: The Federal Constitutional Court on Wednesday suspended the local government elections scheduled to be held in Quetta on December 28.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan heard a writ petition filed by Abdul Qadir Baloch challenging the upcoming local government elections in Quetta.
Senior lawyer Kamran Murtaza appeared before the bench and argued that the delimitation of Quetta constituencies was carried out under the 2017 census. He maintained that elections should not be held on the basis of the 2017 census after the completion of the 2023 census.
After hearing the arguments, the constitutional bench accepted the petition and stayed the election process.
Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had twice rejected a request by Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti seeking postponement of the local government elections in Quetta. The chief minister had cited the prevailing law and order situation in the province.
Several political parties had also approached the Balochistan High Court, seeking suspension of the upcoming local government elections.
A separate constitutional petition was filed by Younas Baloch and others, urging the court to intervene in the electoral process. The petition stated that holding elections under the current circumstances was not feasible due to adverse weather conditions and unresolved issues related to voter lists. It also warned that conducting the polls could lead to serious law and order challenges.
The court accepted the stay request and postponed the elections in Quetta.
Last week, the Election Commission released key details of the local government elections, stating that 103 candidates had been elected unopposed across 641 wards in Quetta.
The commission said no nomination papers were filed in 18 wards, leaving those seats vacant.
Also Read: ECP Rejects CM Balochistan Plea to Postpone LG elections in Quetta
ECP officials said polling was scheduled for December 28 in 520 of the 641 wards.
According to the Election Commission, Quetta has 823,707 registered voters for the local government elections.
