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ISLAMABAD: A meeting between the senior officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the Punjab government is scheduled on Friday (today) to review steps for holding local government elections in the country’s largest province in the wake of continuous delay on this count. The meeting was originally scheduled on Thursday, but was postponed for a day, keeping in view the unavailability of certain officials, it is learnt. Last week, the ECP said it “invited” Chief Secretary Punjab Zahid Akhtar Zaman and Secretary LG Punjab Shakeel Ahmed Mian for the Thursday meeting, now taking place on Friday (today), being presided over by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja. This 9th October, the ECP announced the programme for the delimitation of constituencies for Punjab LG elections – from 8th October to 12th December. However, the electoral body withdrew this delimitation schedule on 21st October following the passage of the new LG law by the Punjab Assembly. After the new law’s passage, holding a delimitation drive under the old law would be a violation of Section 219(1) of the Elections Act, 2017, said the electoral entity after holding a meeting on the matter. This law provides that the ECP shall conduct LG elections under the applicable LG law in a province, cantonment, or the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). The poll body gave the Punjab government four weeks to frame the delimitation rules under the new law. Article 218(3) of the Constitution provides that it shall be the ECP’s duty to organise and conduct the elections, and to make such arrangements as are necessary, to ensure that an election is conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with law, and that corrupt practices are guarded against. Presently, the local bodies are in place in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and cantonment boards, but LG elections in Punjab and the federal capital have been facing an inordinate delay since 2021. The local bodies’ term in the ICT expired on 14 February 2021 and in Punjab on 31 December 2021. Legally, 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. The ECP has repeatedly said in official statements that “whenever” it finalises the LG polls’ preparations, the LG laws are amended by the governments concerned, causing a delay in the elections. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
