ISLAMABAD: Over two weeks after the imposition of the emergency and the governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that has rendered the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI’s) provincial government dysfunctional, the ruling set-up in the province has conveyed its refusal to the electoral body to hold the local government elections citing “unrest and emergency” in KP.
Relatedly, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has reserved its verdict in the case regarding KP LG polls, scheduled to be announced today (Wednesday).
The ECP has also summoned Chief Secretary KP Fakhre Alam Irfan and Secretary LG KP Zafar ur Islam to appear before the electoral body’s full bench on Thursday.
The five-member full bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja heard this case on Tuesday.
Representing the KP ruling set-up, Law Advisor Amir Javed informed the bench that they were unable to hold LG polls in the province on account of unrest and the imposition of the emergency on 11 October. He said military troops were deployed in certain areas of KP under Article 245 of the Constitution of Pakistan due to unrest.
The CEC questioned whether Article 245, imposition of the emergency and the governor’s rule hindered the conduct of LG elections in KP. He also questioned why the LG polls were not possible in those districts of KP where delimitation of constituencies was completed, and why peaceful elections were not possible under the security provided by the military.
Later, the bench reserved its verdict.
In July this year, the now dysfunctional KP government had assured the ECP of “all possible support” in holding the LG polls in those districts of the province where the delimitation of constituencies had been completed.
Later, in the same month, the ECP wrote a letter to the provincial government in which it opposed a key amendment in the KP’s local government law by the provincial assembly regarding the population of village councils and neighbourhood councils in the province’s districts, terming this move as “delaying tactics for holding LG elections”.
Also, in July, the ECP issued a press release saying that the KP government’s decision to get the LG laws amended by the provincial assembly rendered it impossible for the electoral body to carry out the delimitation of constituencies for holding LG elections.
The respective four-year terms of local bodies in KP expired in March and in June this year.
On October 11, the federal government imposed the emergency and the governor’s rule in KP.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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