PESHAWAR: Participants at a public hearing conducted by the provincial assembly contended that while the enactment of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Local Government act is an important step, the law itself has a lot of room for improvement.
The public hearing was held in Peshawar to discuss the efficacy of the Act on Tuesday. K-P Assembly Deputy Speaker Imtiaz Shahid chaired the event, which was also attended by MPAs, representatives of the civil society, and journalists, all of whom were tasked with pointing out gaps in the legislation and suggest improvements. The event was lauded by all as a step towards strengthening of democracy in the country.
Admitting shortcomings of the act, the deputy speaker said the law was enacted hastily due to deadlines given by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Thus, he added, the legislature is mindful of areas of improvement within the LG Act.
ANP MPA Jaffer Shah informed the hearing that his party had challenged non-party based elections at the village and neighbourhood council levels and is awaiting a verdict. He said there are some critical issues in the electoral framework that needed to be addressed.
Recommendations arising from the public hearing covered a wide array of issues including delimitation of boundaries, code of conduct for these elections, the representation of women, powers and responsibilities of the Election Commission of Pakistan, and the criteria for candidate qualification.
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