The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced that it will be conducting local government (LG) elections in the federal capital on September 29. This comes after a delay of over three years in holding these elections.
The public notice for the LG elections in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) will be issued on August 15. The ICT has a total of 125 union councils, comprising 750 general wards and 250 women wards.
The delimitation exercise for the ICT LG elections was completed on July 23.
Currently, LG systems are operational in the provinces of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan.
However, the ECP has failed to hold LG elections in ICT and Punjab within the 120-day period stipulated under Section 219(4) of the Elections Act 2017, upon the expiry of their respective terms.
The Elections Act 2017 mandates that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) must hold local government (LG) elections within 120 days of the expiry of the local bodies’ term in a province, cantonment or the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).
The term of the ICT local bodies expired on February 14, 2021, and the term of the Punjab local bodies expired on December 31, 2021. However, the ECP failed to hold the LG elections within the stipulated 120-day period.
Furthermore, the Elections Act 2017 (Section 219(3)) requires the ECP to consult with the federal or provincial government concerned and announce the date(s) for holding the LG elections.
In December 2022, the Chief Election Commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, indicated that the ECP intended to conduct pilot testing of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the upcoming general elections or LG polls. The ECP also aimed to work on internet voting or i-voting for overseas Pakistanis, for which it had sought funding from the then federal government.
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