ISLAMABAD: Over a week after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government assured “all possible support” to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in holding the local government elections in the province, the electoral body, Thursday, opposed a key amendment in the KP’s local government law terming it “delaying tactics for holding LG elections.”
In addition, the ECP “desired that it may be assisted by the provincial government on the said amendment,” as per a fresh official correspondence between the poll body and the provincial government.
In this context, a letter to Chief Secretary KP Shahab Ali Shah from ECP’s Additional Director General Local Government Elections Nadeem Qasim stated that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2026 was passed by the KP Assembly on July 6, assented by the governor KP on July 16, and notified on July 21.
The letter referred to an amendment in Section 6 of the KP Local Government Act, 2013, which read, “The population of a Village Council and Neighbourhood Council, within a district, shall range between thirty thousand (30,000) to forty thousand (40,000), within ten percent (10%) permissible variation, calculated on the basis of the Digital Census 2023, officially published:
Provided that in specific cases, the ECP may, for reasons to be recorded, waive any of the aforesaid conditions after due consultation with the government.”
Referring to this amendment, the letter said that the ECP was under obligation and empowered under Article 222(b) of the Constitution of Pakistan read with Sections 221(1) and 221(9) of the Elections Act, 2017 to delimit the constituencies for the LG polls.
“The above said amendment in section 6 (5)(e) of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2026 is in contradiction with the powers delegated to the Commission in the above referred provisions of the constitution and the law. Moreover, the consultation with government as mentioned in the proviso of Section 6(5)(e) of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government (Amendment) Act, 2026 is also against the spirit of Article 222 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 which provides that no such law shall have the effect of taking away or abridging any of the powers of the commissioner or the election commission.”
The ADG’s letter further read, “As per the amendment, it will not be practicable for the Commission to carry out delimitation as per population threshold i.e. 30,000 to 40,000 in the light of existing number of VCs/NCs provided in the Ninth Schedule of the KP Local Government Act, 2013 which is an ambiguity.”
The letter notes, “In addition to above facts, this amendment in KP LG Act, 2013, at this belated stage seems to be delaying tactics for holding LG elections.”
Earlier on July 14, the chief secretary KP, in a meeting with the ECP officials, had assured “all possible support” to the ECP in holding the LG elections in 23 districts of the province where the electoral body completed the delimitation of constituencies.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026