ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday issued notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on a petition seeking party-based local government elections in the federal capital.

The petition, filed by local Member National A ssembly Asad Umar of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI), was taken up by a division bench comprising Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi and Justice Amir Farooq of theIHC.

Advocate Sohaib Shaheen, the counsel for PTI, contended that election the Section 25 (k) of the proposed Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015 was against the provisions of the constitution.

The section placed bar on party based local government elections in the capital territory.

He said the elections must be party based otherwise it would be a violation of the constitution which ensured political rights like right to participation in political life of a nation, right to self-determination, autonomy, civil rights, sovereignty and self-government.

The local bodies` election is scheduled to be held on July 25. The local government act does not even allow use of symbol of any party during the election campaign.

Advocate Shaheen argued that the local government elections would be illegal if the political parties would not be allowed to field their candidates. The matter has been adjourned till Tuesday.-Staf f Reporter