ECP warns of hearing if prerequisites for Islamabad local govt polls not met

ISLAMABAD: Months after postponing local government polls in the federal capital for the fourth time, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has directed the interior ministry and Islamabad administration to immediately issue notifications on town corporations’ limits and union councils for polls, warning it would fix the matter for a hearing if there was no progress.

Chairing a meeting, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja said holding local government elections was a constitutional requirement under Article 140(A) of the Constitution, further noting that local governments were functioning in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan, but elections could not be held in Punjab and Islamabad due to changes in local government laws.

The ECP also directed the interior secretary and chief commissioner to take up the matter immediately with the relevant standing committee and cabinet.

“If no progress is made, the case will be fixed for hearing in the Election Commission,” it said. “If required, this matter will be raised with the federal government at an appropriate level.”

Raja said the presence of senior officers in the meeting meant the ECP expected the issues to be resolved “amicably”, so that the delimitation schedule could be issued and local elections held in the capital.

Officials briefed the meeting that Islamabad’s local bodies completed their term on February 14, 2021, and no elections have been held since.

The federal government amended the Islamabad Local Government Act 2015 through an ordinance on January 10, 2026.

Under the amendments, the ECP said it still awaited notification of town corporations’ limits, notification of the number of union councils in each town, maps matching those limits, rules under the ordinance, and amendments proposed by the commission.

The Islamabad chief commissioner told the meeting that the proposed notification on town corporations’ limits and union council numbers had been sent to the Ministry of Interior. It would go to the relevant standing committee before final approval by the federal cabinet.

The interior secretary assured the ECP of “all possible assistance”.

Since the term of the last local government expired in February 2021, elections have been delayed under various pretexts. As a result, around 2.5 million residents in the federal capital continue to face issues ranging from water shortages to unpaved streets.

The ECP has conducted delimitations multiple times and issued election schedules on several occasions, only for them to be cancelled later. Earlier, the elections were even cancelled a day before polling.

When the local government’s term ended in 2021, the PTI was in power, and elections were supposed to be held within 120 days, but steps were not taken to conduct polls. Later, when the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) came to power, it too delayed the elections.

During the PDM’s tenure, elections were set to be held in 50 union councils (UCs), but the government argued that the number should be increased to 101 UCs, leading to further delays.

Later, when arrangements were finalised to hold elections in 101 UCs, the PDM government proposed increasing the number from 101 to 125. Elections were then scheduled for 125 UCs, but in September last year, the government decided to increase the number of general seats in the UCs.

In December 2025, the ECP decided to hold the elections in 125 UCs on February 15 and issued the schedule.

But in January this year, the ECP postponed LG polls in Islamabad for the fourth time following the promulgation of the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance 2026.

The repeated delays have left Islamabad without an elected local government for over five years, with civic issues mounting in the capital.