Local govt polls: Four-week ECP deadline to Punjab govt unlikely to be met

ISLAMABAD: The four-week deadline given by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to the Punjab government, last week, for meeting requirements related to local government polls in the province seems unlikely to be met, as the provincial government has conveyed to the electoral body that the related requirements would not be fulfilled before January next year.

This transpired, Friday, in a meeting between the ECP and the Punjab government officials, presided over by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja.

Chief Secretary Punjab Zahid Akhtar Zaman and Secretary LG Punjab Shakeel Ahmed Mian conveyed to the ECP officials in the said meeting that the Punjab government would provide the required maps related to town corporations, municipal corporations, municipal committees and tehsil councils by 10 January 2026.

This 21 October, the ECP gave the Punjab government four weeks to frame the delimitation rules and meet related requirements under the new LG law passed by Punjab Assembly, a deadline that would be expiring on 18 November.

In Friday’s meeting, Punjab government officials informed the ECP that the provincial government would share the draft of Punjab Local Government Conduct of Election Rules 2025 by 15 November.

Moreover, the notifications related to demarcation and classification of town corporations, municipal corporations, municipal committees and tehsil councils would be shared by 22 December, and the notifications regarding the number of union councils in Punjab would be shared by 31 December, the meeting was informed.

This 9 October, the ECP announced the programme for the delimitation of constituencies for Punjab LG elections – from 8 October to 12 December.

However, the electoral body withdrew this delimitation schedule on 21 October following the passage of the new LG law by the Punjab Assembly.

After the new law’s passage, holding a delimitation drive under the old law would be a violation of Section 219(1) of the Elections Act, 2017, said the electoral entity after holding a meeting on the matter on 21 October.

This law provides that the ECP shall conduct LG elections under the applicable LG law in a province, cantonment, or the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

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

The local bodies’ term in the ICT expired on 14 February 2021, and in Punjab on 31 December 2021.

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

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025