The Pakistan Electoral Commission has decided to hold local government elections in Punjab during the last week of December this year, after a hearing on delays in the organization of surveys. The decision was made by a four -member bank chaired by the electoral chief commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja.
The Pakistan Electoral Commission (ECP) said that the elections will be held under the Law of the Local Government 2022. The Commission has ordered that the delimitation of the constituencies be completed within two months, with an ongoing work.
During the hearing, ECP officials said that efforts had been made to hold local elections in Sindh, Baluchistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Acantonation Boards, but provincial governments, particularly Punjab, caused delays and obstacles.
The Punjab Government has modified the law of the local government several times during this period, further delaying elections despite the repeated delimitation exercises and ECP ads. The term of the local Punjab agencies expired on December 31, 2021, and no elections have been held for more than three years.
The officials also clarified that there are no legal barriers to hold elections under the law of the local government of 2022. If the electronic voting machines (EVM) are not available, ballots can be used.
The Sikandar Electoral Chief Commissioner Sultan Raja criticized the delay of three years and nine months as a misfortune for both the ECP and the governments involved. He emphasized the constitutional duty of the commission to ensure that elections are held, and added that if a government does not want to hold local elections, the Constitution must be amended accordingly.
The Punjab government explained that the floods and sessions of the Assembly had delayed the approval of the new Local Government Law, but assured the commission that the bill would be presented in the next session of the Assembly.
The ECP decision is expected to be announced imminently, after which delimitation will begin immediately.
The Superior Court of Lahore will listen to a related request from Jamaat-E-Islami on October 14, to which the ECP must respond.
