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Tag: Election Commission of Pakistan

  • ECP gives PM Office two weeks to reply in cantonment boards election case

    ECP gives PM Office two weeks to reply in cantonment boards election case

    The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has given the Prime Minister’s Office two weeks to submit its reply in the case of delayed local government elections in 42 cantonment boards, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

    In a written verdict issued on Saturday, the commission ordered the Prime Minister’s Office to write the letter again and submit its reply within two weeks, in a case concerning the holding of elections in the cantonment boards.

    The verdict noted that the cantonment boards completed their term on April 11, 2026. Under the law, elections were to be held by August 8, 2026, but they were not held on time, the order said.

    According to the commission, the schedule for demarcations in the 42 cantonment boards was announced on January 11, 2026, while the final list of the demarcations was issued on April 20, 2026.

    The ECP said that under Article 19-D of the Cantonment Act, the federal government should write an application for holding the elections, and that the formal request from the government was still awaited.

    The commission said letters were written to the Ministry of Defence on May 14, May 26 and June 16, while the chief election commissioner wrote to the prime minister on July 16, seeking the government’s formal request.

    It noted that the defence ministry and the Military Lands and Cantonments Department were ready, but the matter was still pending at the Prime Minister’s Office.

    According to the order, on November 10, 2026, Brigadier (retired) Falak Naz and Khalil Rana appeared before the commission. The defence ministry had submitted an application to the federal government, but no reply had been given, it said.

    The commission also warned that it would be constrained to pass appropriate orders if no response was received within the given time, according to The News.

    The order was passed by a five-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, The News reported.

    The delay in cantonment board elections has been pending for months, with the commission repeatedly reminding the government that local government polls in the cantonments were due within 120 days of the expiry of the boards’ term.

    Once the federal government’s formal request is received, the commission can move ahead with the election schedule for the 42 cantonment boards across the country.

  • ECP Removes Khalid Maqbool from MQM-P Leadership List

    ECP Removes Khalid Maqbool from MQM-P Leadership List

    The Election Commission of Pakistan has taken Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui’s name off its official record as the head of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, leaving the party’s top slot empty in the regulator’s latest register of political parties.

    The updated register, published on the commission’s website, shows a blank space where the name of the MQM-P chief should appear. The party itself has not been struck off the register, and officials say it remains a recognised political party for now.

    The move follows MQM-P’s failure to hold its internal elections within the time the commission had allowed. Earlier this year, the Election Commission had given the party until October 15 to complete the exercise. When that date passed without the polls taking place, the commission sent the party a formal notice asking why it had not complied.

    The notice gave the party two weeks to explain itself and warned that it could lose its election symbol if the internal polls were not held. Without a symbol, a party cannot contest a general election under its own banner.

    MQM-P has since replied to the notice. Its response was filed through its counsel, Barrister Farogh Naseem. A senior commission official said the reply had been received and would be examined, and that if it does not satisfy the commission, the matter will be fixed for a hearing and decided on merit.

    Siddiqui, who also serves as the federal minister for education, has led the party for several years, securing repeated extensions from the commission for the internal elections. At one stage he had assured the regulator that the polls would be held on October 14, but the commitment was not met.

    MQM-P is not the only party affected by the updated register. The name of Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai has also been removed, as a case about that party’s internal elections and a change to its constitution is still pending before the commission. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan are likewise listed without the names of their heads.

    The development has set off a debate inside MQM-P circles, with questions being raised about the party’s leadership and the way forward. For now, the commission’s message is clear: parties must hold their internal elections on time, or face the consequences laid down in the law.

  • Islamabad LG Elections: 3,505 File Papers for 1,125 Seats

    Islamabad LG Elections: 3,505 File Papers for 1,125 Seats

    Islamabad’s long-delayed local government elections took a decisive step forward on Monday, as 3,505 nomination papers were filed for seats across the federal capital’s 125 union councils. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced the election programme on November 7, and the deadline for filing papers expired at midnight on Monday, closing the first formal stage of a contest that will choose local representatives for a city that has gone years without elected local government.

    The contest covers 1,125 seats in all. Of these, 750 are general seats, 250 are reserved for women and 125 are reserved for minority communities, giving candidates from every section of the capital a place in the race. The scale of the response, with more than three thousand papers filed for just over a thousand seats, points to a crowded field when voters go to the polls.

    Under the programme announced by the commission, the next steps follow in quick succession. Appeals against the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers must be filed by November 14. Candidates will then have until November 21 to withdraw their papers, and the final list of candidates will be displayed on November 22. Election symbols will be allotted on November 24, and polling is scheduled for December 27, 2026.

    Islamabad will be the first city in Pakistan to elect its local government system under the new law, a distinction the commission has highlighted as the process moves ahead. The previous local bodies in the capital completed their term in February 2021, leaving a gap of around five and a half years in which the city has had no elected local representatives.

    The schedule has also drawn a legal challenge. A petition filed in the Islamabad High Court has questioned the election programme and the delimitation of constituencies, asking the court to order fresh delimitation before polling. No ruling on the petition has been reported so far, and the commission’s programme remains in force.

    With nominations now closed, attention turns to scrutiny of the papers and the publication of the final candidate lists. For voters in the capital, the December poll will be the first chance in more than five years to choose the councillors who handle neighbourhood-level decisions, from street-level services to community development, in their own union councils.

  • NA-77 By-Election Today: 11 Candidates, 518,620 Voters

    NA-77 By-Election Today: 11 Candidates, 518,620 Voters

    Polling is under way in Gujranwala today, where 11 candidates are contesting the by-election for the National Assembly seat of NA-77. Voters began casting their ballots on Sunday morning to elect a successor to Chaudhry Mehmood Bashir Virk, the long-serving PML-N parliamentarian whose death in September left the constituency without representation in the lower house.

    According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, 518,620 voters are registered in the constituency, including 277,480 men and 241,140 women. A total of 333 polling stations have been set up across NA-77, comprising 142 male, 137 female and 54 combined stations, with 963 polling booths in all, 536 for men and 427 for women.

    The main contest is widely seen as a two-way fight. The PML-N has fielded Rashid Bashir Virk, the son of the late MNA, while the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League has nominated Qazi Muhammad Ibrahim Gujjar. Tayyab Mahmood of the Pakistan Ideological Party is also in the race, along with independent candidates Ulfat Rasool Warraich and Manzoor Qadir Bhinder, among others.

    Tight security as polling day unfolds

    Security has been tightened across the constituency for polling day. The federal government approved the deployment of the Pakistan Army and Punjab Rangers for the by-elections in NA-77 Gujranwala and PP-203 Sahiwal, with troops deployed from 7 to 9 November to cover polling day and the days immediately before and after it.

    The run-up to polling was not without controversy. The Election Commission issued a notice to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar over an alleged violation of the election code of conduct during the campaign, after reports that he visited the constituency by helicopter and addressed a gathering. The minister and the PML-N candidate were summoned to appear before the district monitoring officer at 11am on polling day, and the commission warned that the constituency result could be withheld until a final decision is reached.

    NA-77 covers parts of Gujranwala city and its surrounding areas, including Gujranwala Cantt, Qila Deedar Singh, Rahwali and Ludhiana Warraich. According to reports from the constituency, voters have raised broken roads, health and education facilities, clean drinking water and sewage as the main problems facing the area, and candidates were pressed on these issues throughout the campaign.

    In the 2024 general election, Mahmood Bashir Virk won the seat for the PML-N with 109,704 votes, while Rashida Tariq finished second with 91,825 votes, a margin of 17,879 votes. The PML-N will be hoping to hold on to a seat it has controlled for years, while its rivals are aiming to turn the by-election into an upset.

    Polling will continue through the day, with counting to follow once voting closes. The formal declaration of the result may be delayed if the Election Commission’s review of the alleged code of conduct violation is still under way.

  • Islamabad LG polls: two more days to file nominations

    Islamabad LG polls: two more days to file nominations

    The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has extended the last date for submitting nomination papers for the local government elections in Islamabad to November 8, giving prospective candidates two more days to file their papers.

    The commission issued a notification announcing the extension on Thursday. The deadline for filing nomination papers had earlier been fixed for November 6.

    Candidates can now submit their nomination papers until November 8, the ECP said, adding that the decision was taken after requests from various political parties and with the aim of facilitating candidates.

    With the extension, the scrutiny of nomination papers will now be carried out on November 9 and 10. The final list of candidates will be published on November 11.

    The nomination process for the Islamabad local government elections began on November 2, when candidates started submitting their papers to the offices of the returning officers in the federal capital.

    Earlier this week, the ECP rejected reports that nomination papers were not being issued over the weekend. The commission said the offices of 16 returning officers remained open from October 30 to November 1 and had issued 1,847 nomination papers to prospective candidates, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.

    The extension follows complaints from political parties about difficulties in obtaining nomination papers. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Islamabad chapter had asked the commission to extend the deadline by at least 10 days, saying candidates could not obtain papers on Friday despite the announced schedule, according to Dawn.

    Islamabad’s local government elections are being held for 125 union councils, the basic units of local representation in the capital territory. Sixteen returning officers have been assigned to receive nomination papers from candidates.

    Polling for the local government elections is scheduled for Sunday, December 20, 2026, under the election programme announced by the ECP.

    Under the programme, the scrutiny of nomination papers was originally planned for November 9 to 13, with appeals against rejected nominations to follow. The revised timetable now places scrutiny on November 9 and 10, with the final list of candidates due on November 11.

    The elections are being conducted under the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015, and the relevant electoral laws.

    Candidates who have already filed their papers do not need to take any further step, while those still preparing their documents now have until November 8 to submit them to their returning officer.

    The coming days will show whether the extra time brings a rush of last-minute filings, with the final list of candidates to be published on November 11 ahead of the December 20 vote.

  • ECP gives MQM-P 14 days over missed intra-party polls

    ECP gives MQM-P 14 days over missed intra-party polls

    The Election Commission of Pakistan has asked Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan to explain why it did not hold its intra-party elections by the extended deadline. According to Dunya News, the commission issued a show-cause notice to the party and gave it 14 days to respond.

    The notice relates to a deadline of October 15, 2026, by which the party was required to complete its internal elections. The commission said intra-party elections are mandatory under the Elections Act, 2017, and that a party must submit its election certificate within seven days of completing the process. Dunya News reports that the notice itself was issued on October 26, 2026.

    Intra-party elections are the internal polls through which a political party elects its own office-bearers. The law treats them as a condition for a party to keep its place in the electoral system, rather than as a private formality. That is why the commission follows up when a party misses the timetable, and why the certificate of the election matters: it is the record the commission relies on to confirm that the internal process took place.

    The notice warns of further legal action if MQM-P does not respond within the 14-day period. It also says that failure to comply could make the party ineligible to obtain an election symbol. For voters, the symbol is the most visible part of a party’s identity on the ballot paper, so any question over it would matter well beyond the party’s internal affairs.

    MQM-P is one of the major parties in urban Sindh, and its electoral standing has long depended on a clear organisational structure and a recognised symbol. A show-cause notice does not by itself decide the party’s fate. It is a formal step that gives the party a chance to explain its position before the commission takes any further action. The party will now have to set out, in its reply, why the elections were not held by the deadline and what steps it has taken since.

    The commission’s approach in such cases is normally procedural: it asks for an explanation, examines the reply, and then decides whether further action is needed. If the party can show that the elections have since been held, or that there is a valid reason for the delay, the matter may be settled without further steps. If it cannot, the commission has warned that it may move to the next stage under the law.

    For the wider political system, the case is a reminder that parties are expected to keep their internal democratic processes up to date. The Elections Act sets the rules for all registered parties, and the commission applies them across the board. The outcome of MQM-P’s reply will therefore be watched not only by its own supporters, but by other parties that face the same obligations.

    The next step is now with the party. Its reply, due within 14 days, will determine whether the matter closes or moves towards further legal action and a question over its election symbol.

  • Islamabad local polls on 20 December: CEC calls key security meeting on 10 November

    Islamabad local polls on 20 December: CEC calls key security meeting on 10 November

    ISLAMABAD — With preparations for the federal capital’s local government elections complete, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja has called an important meeting on 10 November. The interior secretary, the chief commissioner and the Islamabad police chief will brief him on the security plan at the meeting.

    According to Hum News, the chief election commissioner was briefed that all preparations for the local elections are complete, including the purchase of all election material. Arrangements for printing ballot papers are also complete, and letters have been sent to the Islamabad police chief and the deputy commissioner regarding the necessary arrangements.

    The Election Commission issued the schedule for Islamabad’s local elections on 20 October, under which polling in the federal capital will be held on 20 December.

    It is worth recalling that the last local government elections in the federal capital were held in 2015, and the elected local government’s term ended on 14 February 2021. Under the law, fresh elections were required within 120 days of the term’s end, but repeated changes in the law and administrative problems have left the electoral process stalled for five years.

  • اسلام آباد بلدیاتی انتخابات: 20 دسمبر کو پولنگ، 10 نومبر کو سکیورٹی پلان پر اہم اجلاس

    اسلام آباد بلدیاتی انتخابات: 20 دسمبر کو پولنگ، 10 نومبر کو سکیورٹی پلان پر اہم اجلاس

    اسلام آباد — وفاقی دارالحکومت میں بلدیاتی انتخابات کی تیاریاں مکمل ہونے کے بعد چیف الیکشن کمشنر سکندر سلطان راجا نے 10 نومبر کو ایک اہم اجلاس طلب کر لیا ہے۔ اس اجلاس میں سیکرٹری داخلہ، چیف کمشنر اور آئی جی اسلام آباد انہیں سکیورٹی پلان پر بریفنگ دیں گے۔

    ہم نیوز کی رپورٹ کے مطابق چیف الیکشن کمشنر کو بریفنگ میں بتایا گیا کہ بلدیاتی انتخابات کے لیے تمام انتخابی میٹریل کی خریداری سمیت تمام تیاریاں مکمل کر لی گئی ہیں۔ بیلٹ پیپرز کی پرنٹنگ کے تمام انتظامات بھی مکمل ہیں، جبکہ آئی جی اور ڈپٹی کمشنر اسلام آباد کو ضروری انتظامات کے حوالے سے خطوط ارسال کیے جا چکے ہیں۔

    الیکشن کمیشن نے 20 اکتوبر کو اسلام آباد میں بلدیاتی الیکشن کا شیڈول جاری کیا تھا، جس کے مطابق وفاقی دارالحکومت میں 20 دسمبر کو پولنگ ہوگی۔

    یاد رہے کہ وفاقی دارالحکومت میں آخری بلدیاتی انتخابات 2015 میں ہوئے تھے، جن کے نتیجے میں بننے والی منتخب بلدیاتی حکومت کی مدت 14 فروری 2021 کو ختم ہو گئی تھی۔ قانون کے تحت مدت ختم ہونے کے بعد 120 دن کے اندر نئے انتخابات کرانا ضروری تھے، لیکن قانون میں بار بار تبدیلیوں اور انتظامی مسائل کے باعث انتخابی عمل 5 سال سے تعطل کا شکار ہے۔