There is a strange mystery, but the answer is probably contained in it. The mystery, according to report in this newspaper’s Profit magazine, is the disappearance of Rs 828 billion, which should have gone to local councils from the Provincial Consolidated Fund, but which did not. This money has instead by spent by the provincial government. Clearly, while the Constitution mandates the development of local government institutions, the provincial government has been finding ways of avoiding this. It seems it would rather have the spending of the money rather than leave it to the local council heads. It seems that the desire to have no one asking any questions is the reason why Punjab is resisting the holding of elections to the local bodies. It is not a Punjab thing, for all four provinces have resisted, and though elections have been held in KP and Sindh, they have not been held in Punjab and Balochistan. And it is not a matter of a month or two off; the Punjab polls have not been held since 2019. If the elections are held,
Just as much as the National Finance Commission makes an award for a split of tax revenue between the federal and provincial governments, and then how the provincial money is to be divided amongst the individual provinces, the Provincial Finance Commission was to make a division between the provincial government and the local governments, and then how the districts’ money was to be distributed among the individual districts. There was an interim PFC set up at the tail end of the Shehbaz government, and its Award still holds the field. Therefore, even the present distribution does not have a solid democratic mandate.
It is perhaps paradoxical that the PML(N) has used local bodies as a sort of substitute for a grassroots organization, but now is falling in with the wishes of its MPAs and MNAs, and avoiding elections. Local bodies are now hard pressed to pay salaries, and will not have anyone to plead their case until elections are held. At the moment, the money is being spent by the provincial government, which has taken control of the councils. One the councils re-elected, they will advocate for their money. The federal and provincial governments should not act in accordance with the short-term pressure of backbenchers, but follow the Constitution, by facilitating local body polls, rather than hindering them.
