The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decided on Wednesday to hold long-delayed local government (LG) elections in Punjab in the last week of December, the process of delimitation for which would be started tomorrow and completed within two months.
Under Article 140-A of the Constitution and Section 219(4) of the Elections Act, the ECP is bound to hold elections within 120 days of the expiry of the term of the local government institutions. In April 2019, the then PTI-led Punjab government dissolved the local government institutions, which were later restored by the Supreme Court and subsequently completed their term on Dec 31, 2021. That means the elections were supposed to be held by the end of April 2022 but it could not be made possible as the provincial government kept on amending the LG law from time to time.
The order, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was issued by a four-member ECP bench comprising Chairman Sikandar Sultan Raja, Nisar Ahmed Durrani, Shah Muhammad Jatoi and Babar Hassan Bharwana.
It stated that the ECP had “decided to hold the local government elections in the province of Punjab on basis of the existing local government law i.e. the Punjab Local Government Act 2022 and Rules framed thereunder”.
The bench ordered the ECP office to initiate the process of delimitation from tomorrow and complete it within two months.
“Thereafter, the election programme should be announced and the election should be held in the last week of December, 2025. The office is expected to follow the timelines strictly,” the order said.
Today’s order referred to another one released after the June hearing held by the ECP on the matter, which stated that the ECP had accepted the Punjab government’s request for three months’ time for the completion of various activities pertaining to the election “in the interest of justice”.
“In case of failure, the commission will issue appropriate orders regarding the conduct of local government elections in the province of Punjab,” the June order said.
Referring to it, today’s order stated that having received no response from the Punjab government after a period of three months, the ECP again fixed the matter for a hearing today and issued a notice to the local government secretary.
According to the order, the bench for today’s hearing comprised ECP Chairperson Sikandar Sultan Raja and three of its members, Nisar Ahmed Durrani, Shah Muhammad Jatoi and Babar Hassan Bharwana.
More to follow