ISLAMABAD: At a time when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) prepares for its upcoming long march towards the federal capital, the electoral body is hearing on Tuesday (today) a case regarding the conduct of local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province where the political party is in the government.
A four-member ECP bench comprising Nisar Ahmed Durrani, Shah Muhammad Jatoi, Babar Hassan Bharwana and former Justice Ikram Ullah Khan is hearing the said case.
The bench has summoned in-person Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah and Secretary LG KP Zafar ur Islam for today’s hearing, suggests a cause list recently issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
In July this year, 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.”
In the same month, 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 June this year. Apart from KP, LGs’ term in Islamabad expired in February 2021, and in December 2021 in Punjab.
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.
Conspicuously, the ECP is hearing the KP LG polls case at a time when the PTI, under the leadership of Chief Minister KP Sohail Afridi, is preparing for the long march starting on 4th October 2026.
Last month, the PTI announced to begin its long march in support of incarcerated party founder and former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
On 5th August, the PTI held public rallies across the country to mark three years of Khan’s imprisonment.
Addressing a related public gathering in Peshawar the same day, CM Afridi announced the long march against what he said were frivolous cases pursued against the ex-PM.
Originally scheduled to begin on 27th September, the long march was rescheduled to 4th October, last week, which Afridi said, was in accordance with their strategy.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026