Local Government and Judiciary in Pakistan after 2010

Authors

  • Abdul Qayum Khan

Abstract

This paper discusses the role that the higher judiciary played in ensuring and holding of elections to local government in Pakistan. This role of judiciary has been studied in the specified period of about five years — 2010 to 2015. Characterized by the process of democratization and judicialization of politics, Pakistan’s decade of 2000 terminated by the introduction of 18th Amendment to the 1973 constitution in 2010, whereby under Article 140(A) establishment of local government was made a constitutional duty of the provinces. Averse to this constitutional duty, the executive in the four provinces first came up to the court with number of excuses to delay local bodies’ elections. However, judiciary did not let them off the hook over this issue. Taking this constitutional bait, the executives and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) held local bodies’ election across provinces and the federal areas. The last election in the series was that of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) held on 30 November 2015. This study aims to see whether such a role of judiciary helped in the democratization of polity or was the process constrained, in any way. ______

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Published

2020-02-14