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Tag: Local government elections

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • ECP deploys 17 officers to watch Islamabad’s local polls

    ECP deploys 17 officers to watch Islamabad’s local polls

    The Election Commission of Pakistan has appointed 17 officers to monitor the Islamabad local government elections, putting a formal monitoring structure in place ahead of polling on 20 December.

    Additional Deputy Commissioner Uzair Ali Khan has been appointed as District Monitoring Officer, with 16 monitoring officers working under the arrangement. Together, they will cover the pre-poll period, election day itself, and the post-poll phase, giving the Commission eyes on the ground through every stage of the contest.

    The monitoring officers will collect information on campaign activities and report violations of the code of conduct on Form M-1. The District Monitoring Officer will record complaints on Form M-2 and submit daily reports to the Election Commission, creating a regular flow of information from the field to the Commission.

    Local administration has also been directed to appoint a focal person of Grade 17 or above, to coordinate with the monitoring setup. That appointment is intended to make sure the monitoring officers have a clear point of contact within the local administration for the work they are asked to do.

    The appointments follow a nomination process that drew only 39 candidates for 125 union councils, out of 1,012 candidates who had obtained nomination papers. The Election Commission, quoted in reporting on the nominations, attributed the low participation to the powers and funds available to local bodies, and had extended the nomination deadline to 4 November.

    Against that background, the monitoring appointments take on added importance. With fewer candidates contesting, the conduct of the campaign and the polling process itself will be watched closely, and the Commission’s monitoring officers are the mechanism for that oversight.

    Islamabad’s local government elections matter because they decide who runs civic affairs in the capital’s union councils, from local services to community-level decisions. Even where contests are thin, the process of electing those representatives is a formal part of local democracy, and the Commission is responsible for ensuring it is conducted fairly.

    The named monitoring officers include Anjum Hayat, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Hussain, Usman Rashid, Shaoor Ahmed, Shabbir Hussain Sandhu, Arif Ali, Azizur Rehman and Nisar Muhammad Khan, each assigned specific union councils. Their assignments give the monitoring structure a defined geographic spread across the capital.

    With polling set for 20 December, the monitoring team now has the weeks ahead to track campaigning, record any violations, and report back to the Commission. Their daily reports will form part of the record on which the Commission judges whether the elections were conducted in line with its code of conduct.