ECP sets July 1 hearing on delay in local government polls in KP and Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has fixed July 1 for hearings involving Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad authorities over delays in providing maps and other material required for local government elections.

At a meeting at the ECP Secretariat chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and attended by ECP members, the ECP secretary and senior officials, the commission reviewed arrangements for local government elections in Islamabad, Punjab and KP. During the meeting, the commission expressed concern that the KP government had not yet supplied the required maps and related data for 15 districts despite repeated requests.

Citing Article 220 of the Constitution, under which executive authorities are required to assist the ECP, the commission ordered notices to be issued to the KP chief secretary and the local government secretary. They were directed to submit the required maps and data before July 1, and were also asked to appear in person to explain the delay.

The tenure of local governments in KP ended on March 15 this year. Under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2013, local representatives are elected for a four-year term.

Islamabad case also fixed for July 1

The ECP was informed that the matter relating to delimitation of town corporations and notification of the number of union councils in each town corporation in Islamabad had been sent to the federal cabinet for approval. However, the commission noted that it had still not received the notifications or the maps.

The commission then fixed Islamabad’s case for hearing on July 1 as well and ordered notices to the Islamabad chief commissioner and deputy commissioner.

The last local government in Islamabad completed its term in February 2021. Since then, elections in the federal capital have faced repeated postponements. These delays have left around 2.5 million residents dealing with civic problems including water shortages and damaged streets, while the capital has remained without an elected local government for more than five years.

Punjab preparations under way

For Punjab, the ECP directed its office to complete all necessary work so that the election schedule can be announced immediately after the delimitation exercise is finished. The delimitation schedule for local government polls in Punjab was issued in April this year, and the exercise is due to be completed by August 10, after which the election schedule is to be issued.

Local government elections in Punjab have also been delayed for years. The matter dates back to 2019, when the PTI-led provincial government dissolved local government institutions in April that year. Those institutions were later restored by the Supreme Court and completed their term on December 31, 2021.

Under Article 140-A of the Constitution and Section 219(4) of the Elections Act, the ECP is required to hold local government elections within 120 days after the expiry of the term of local government institutions. In Punjab’s case, that meant the polls should have been held by the end of April 2022, but that did not happen as the provincial government kept making changes to the local government law.

Repeated postponements in the capital

The ECP had carried out delimitations more than once and had issued election schedules on several occasions for Islamabad, only for the process to be halted later. In one instance, elections were cancelled a day before polling.

When the local government term ended in Islamabad in 2021, the PTI was in office and elections were supposed to be held within 120 days, but no steps were taken to conduct them. After the Pakistan Democratic Movement came to power in 2022, the delay continued.

During the PDM period, elections were first planned for 50 union councils, but the government argued that the number should be raised to 101, causing a further setback. Later, once arrangements had been completed for polls in 101 union councils, the PDM government proposed another increase to 125. Elections were then scheduled for 125 union councils, but in September last year the government decided to increase the number of general seats in those union councils.

In December 2025, the ECP decided to hold elections in 125 union councils on February 15 and issued the schedule. However, in January this year, the commission postponed Islamabad’s local government polls for the fourth time after the promulgation of the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance 2026.

On October 8 last year, the ECP had ordered local government polls in Punjab in December 2025 and asked the provincial government to begin delimitation immediately and complete it within two months. That order was later reversed at a meeting chaired by the chief election commissioner on October 21, 2025, after the Punjab government requested reconsideration in light of the new Punjab Local Government Act 2025.

The ECP then withdrew the earlier delimitation schedule issued under the 2022 local government law and gave the provincial government four weeks to finalise delimitation and demarcation rules. On October 31, 2025, the commission said local government elections in Punjab would not be possible before the second quarter of the following year because all prerequisites for the exercise would not be available during the current year.