QUETTA, (Parliament Times) : A high-level meeting on local body elections chaired by Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan was held at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat here on Monday. The meeting was given a detailed briefing by the Secretary Local Government on the conduct of local body elections and the issues faced in this regard.
In the meeting, Provincial Ministers Mir Zahoor Ahmad Baledi, Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran, Engineer Zamrak Khan Achakzai, Umar Khan Jamali, Chief Secretary Balochistan Mutahar Niaz Rana, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Asfandyar Khan, Secretary Local Government Ahmad Raza Khan, Secretary Finance Abdul Rehman Bazdar, Director General Public Relations Prince Farhat Ahmadzai participated and others were present on the occasion. While Local Government Advisor Nawabzada Ghuram Khan Bugti and Advocate General Balochistan attended the meeting via video link.
The meeting was also briefed about the hearing to be held today in the Election Commission regarding local body elections in Balochistan. In the meeting, it was decided to present the reasoned position of the Balochistan government in the hearing held in the Election Commission. Informing the members on various legal issues related to delimitation of local bodies including local body elections, it was informed that under section 13 of Balochistan Local Government Act 2010, the provincial government can make delimitations itself while the provincial cabinet has already decided that the mandate of constituencies belongs to the provincial government and the Election Commission has already been informed about this decision.
It was stated in the briefing that the Election Commission would conduct local body elections in accordance with the applicable provincial laws. An All Parties Conference was convened to amend the Local Government Act, 2010. The recommendations of the All Parties Conference will be presented at the next meeting of the Provincial Cabinet. The meeting was briefed on the proposed new Municipal Committees, Municipalities and Metropolitan Corporations.
Speaking on the occasion, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan said that the population of cities is increasing rapidly, for the first time in the history of the province 72 new municipal committees are being formed and 24 new municipal corporations will be formed. He added that Gwadar, Turbat, Hub, Khuzdar and Chaman would be given the status of metropolitan corporations. The Chief Minister said that these historic steps would bring relief to the people at the grass root level.
