EDITORIAL: Punjab continues to drag its feet about holding the long overdue local government (LG) elections. Hearing a related case on Wednesday, a full bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) headed by its chief Sikandar Sultan Raja felt it necessary to emphasise that under Articles 140-A (2) and 219 (d) of the Constitution as well as Section 29 of the Elections Act, the electoral watchdog was mandated to conduct LG elections in the provinces and the federal territory.
Although the other three provinces have willy-nilly installed LGs, though, sans necessary administrative powers and financial autonomy, the largest population province of Punjab and authorities in the federal capital territory of Islamabad have kept delaying LG polls on one pretext or another. Part of the problem is the ECP’s conduct as well.
In the case of Islamabad it has announced the polls schedule and cancelled the same so many times in a little over four years that is it difficult to keep the count. Each time the excuse has been the government decision to make changes in the relevant laws.
Similar is the situation in Punjab, where the term of the previous LGs ended in December of 2021. Three years on, the fate of LGs hangs in the balance.
The previous and the present provincial governments have kept postponing the electoral exercise claiming the existing legislation was flawed and had to be amended — a complete red herring.
At Wednesday’s event, ECP Secretary moaned about the fact that successive Punjab governments had changed electoral laws five times, requiring fresh constituency delimitations and updating of electoral rolls, to get their way. That game plan is at work yet again.
Appearing before the ECP bench, the province’s chief secretary and secretary of its Local Government Department said the government had begun working on the LG Act immediately upon assumption of power. That was a year ago. Why has it taken them so long to make amendments to an existing law? There is no good explanation for it.
According to the chief secretary, final draft of the proposed legislation has been sent to the provincial assembly for ‘feedback’ — there is no news of any discussion or debate on it — and after its passage rules will be framed. All this can take forever to be finalised.
The truth of the matter is that they want to delay polls to this third tier of government for as long as possible due to fear of losing to the main opposition party, believed to be far ahead of its rivals in terms of popular support.
In any event, the idea of devolution of power to the grass roots does not sit well with our traditional ruling elites having an obsessive urge to control power at every level of governance.
The ECP, at least for once, needs to take its constitutional responsibility seriously. It should announce election schedule based on its delimitation work and last updated electoral lists. That might impel the government to do its bit without further deferment.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025