Delay in Punjab LG polls: Finalised draft of law sent to PA for legislation, ECP informed

ISLAMABAD: In the wake of lingering delay in holding local government elections in Punjab, the provincial government has now claimed to have finalised the draft for legislation to hold LG polls in the country’s largest province.

In this context, Chief Secretary Punjab Zahid Akhtar Zaman informed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday that the finalised draft of the LG law has been sent to Punjab Assembly for legislation.

After the required legislation, the related LG rules would also be framed, he said during hearing of a case regarding Punjab LG elections delay.

The chief secretary, along with Punjab LG Secretary Shakeel Ahmed Mian, appeared before an ECP bench that heard the case.

Heading the bench, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja said, the required legislation needed to be done forthwith in order to allow the ECP to hold delimitation exercise for Punjab LG polls. He accused the Punjab governments (present and former) of amending the LG laws “whenever the ECP finalised the polls’ preparations in the province.”

The LG elections in three provinces and cantonments were held “after a lot of struggle,” the CEC stated.

A related briefing given to the bench by the ECP officials concerned suggested that the respective provincial governments in Punjab amended the LG laws five times ahead of LG polls that caused delay in holding the elections.

The ECP delimited the constituencies thrice and enlisted the electoral groups twice for holding Punjab LG polls but these elections could not be held due to amendments in the LG laws by the respective provincial governments, the ECP bench was briefed.

Presently, the local bodies are in place in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan but LG elections in Punjab and federal capital have been facing an inordinate delay since 2021.

The local bodies term in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) expired on 14 February 2021, and in Punjab on 31 December 2021.

In a meeting on 22 October, last year, the representatives of the federal and Punjab governments separately informed the ECP that the respective preparations for LG elections in ICT and Punjab were complete, and the respective legislations would be done soon — not been done till date.

The ECP is bound to hold LG elections within 120 days of the expiry of local bodies’ term, under Section 219(4) of the Elections Act 2017.

This law provides that the ECP shall hold elections to the local governments within 120 days of the expiry of the term of a local government of a province, cantonment or ICT.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025