ISLAMABAD             -          The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to submit a realistic timeline for holding local bodies elections in the federal capital. A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir conducted hearing of the petition moved by Ali Nawaz Awan through his counsels Sardar Taimoor Aslam Khan Advocate and Mudassar Abbas Advocate challenging the ECP’s notification to postpone the local bodies elections in the federal capital which were scheduled to take place on December 31. The IHC bench also directed the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) and the ECP to submit their written comments in this matter till Friday (today). During the hearing, the ECP official informed the court that it could not hold elections on December 31 as it required as many as 60 days for the delimitation and also needed time to ensure that all the polling material is distributed. The judge then told the commission to provide a timeline as to when it plans on holding the polls. Justice Tahir also asked the election body to submit the details of the funds utilized so far for the elections as he stressed not allowing the taxpayer’s money to go to waste. The AGP who was summoned for assisting the court with the case suggested recovering the money from the federal cabinet if the elections do not take place on the stipulated time and the printing process has to be done all over again. The AGP said that the court should ask the ECP director general that why the elections were postponed as the government had not changed the local bodies elections and had only increased the number of union councils (UCs). The court asked the ECP official whether the Commission was ready to conduct the elections on December 31 as the government was referring the matter to it. The bench further asked that whether the ECP’s decision did not violate the assurance it had submitted to the court regarding the LG polls. The ECP said that it would take time to transport the election material and holding elections on December 31 was not possible in the new situation. The court asked that why not the proceedings of contempt of court should be initiated against the ECP. The Commission’s lawyer said the election act authorized the Federal Government to increase the number of UCs in the capital. The court asked whether the Federal Government could increase the number of UCs at any time. The ECP lawyer said that there was no restriction in that regard as the government could change the local area after consultation with the ECP. The court said that who would be responsible as the ECP had already spent around Rs 600 million on the LG electoral process. The lawyer said the money belonged to the taxpayers and the Federal Government had issued the said funds. He further said that the ECP would announce new election schedule after completing the UCs’ delimitation. Justice Arbab remarked that the court would not shift the burden to the tax payers at any cost. He expressed annoyance with the officials and remarked that why the ECP had not produced the complete record despite orders. The AG then suggested to the court that to recover the money being wasted from cabinet members as the ECP has decided to delay the elections. In response, Justice Tahir asked that whether the election commission could review its decision to postpone the polls. At this, the ECP’s DG told the court that it was not possible as the election material could not be dispatched before December 31. The ECP DG said that they would also inform the court regarding the expenditure incurred so far in writing. The lawyer said the ECP had set aside the notification regarding the increase in the number of UCs, which the IHC had nullified. The ECP had postponed the elections after hearing the government as per the directives of IHC. After hearing the arguments, the bench deferred hearing till December 30 (Friday) for further proceedings.