ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan Thursday said the Chief Secretary and the Secretary Local Government Punjab have been invited to the Election Commission on October 30 to finalise all steps regarding the conduct of the local government polls.
“Criticism of the Election Commission for postponing local government elections in Punjab shows ignorance of the Constitution of Pakistan and the law,” said a spokesman of the electoral body here.
Under Article 140-A of the Constitution, he pointed out, every provincial government is required to make its own local government system law and formulate rules and regulations thereunder, while the Election Commission is authorised to hold elections in accordance with the proposed laws and rules of the province under Section 219 of the Elections Act 2017.
He noted that after the implementation of the Local Government Act 2025 by the Punjab government, the Local Government Act 2022 has been repealed. “Therefore, how can the Election Commission conduct elections under a repealed law,” he questioned.
After the Local Government Act 2025 was passed, he made it clear that it was legally inevitable for the Election Commission to withdraw the schedule of delimitations issued under the previous law. He reiterated that the Election Commission has given the provincial government four weeks to complete the rules of delimitation and demarcation, after which the schedule for delimitation will be given immediately and elections will be held immediately after the completion of delimitation work.
Separately, the Election Commission has issued the schedule to fill the PS-9, Shikarpur-III constituency seat, which had fallen vacant due to the death of MPA Agha Siraj Durrani.
According to the schedule, nomination papers will be filed from November 3 to 5 while the last date for scrutiny of the same is November 11. It will be followed by publication of the revised list of candidates on November 23 and symbols will be allotted to the contesting candidates on November 25. The polling will be conducted on December 14.
