Islamabad High Court suspends local government election schedule

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) notification announcing the schedule for local government elections in the federal capital, putting the December 20 polls on hold once again, Aaj News reported.

Hearing the petition filed by citizen Amjad Ali, Justice Omer Majid Malik on Friday issued the stay order while hearing a petition seeking a halt to the local government elections, due to concerns over legal requirements.

The court suspended the election schedule, issued notices to the ECP and other relevant parties, and sought detailed responses by November 26.

According to the written order, the petitioner’s request for suspension of the election schedule was accepted.

During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer, Advocate Adil Aziz Qazi, argued that the ECP was legally responsible for ensuring free, fair and transparent elections but had overlooked legal requirements in the ongoing electoral process.

The court’s order suspends the election schedule issued by the ECP on October 21 until November 26, when the matter is expected to be taken up again after the respondents submit their replies.

The last local government elections in Islamabad were held in 2015, while the constitutional term of the elected local government ended in February 2021.

Since then, repeated amendments to local government laws, changes in the number of union councils and delays in announcing election schedules have left residents of the federal capital without elected local representatives for around five years.

On October 22, the ECP had re-announced the schedule for local government elections in Islamabad, setting the polling day for December 20. This directive instructed the ECP Secretariat to immediately issue the election programme in accordance with the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015.

This re-announcement had come after a series of postponements and legislative changes, implying that the elections would proceed under existing laws due to the federal government’s failure to enact new legislation. The ECP had expressed “disappointment” over the repeated delays, noting that previous delimitation exercises had been rendered futile by amendments to laws whenever election preparations were completed.

This particular re-announcement had followed the withdrawal of a previous schedule for elections on February 15, 2026, which was postponed due to a Presidential Ordinance that changed the structure of local governments.