ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Friday sought the related rules, data, notifications and maps so as to take timely steps for carrying out the delimitation of the local government constituencies across Punjab, as the electoral process faces further delay.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja presided over a meeting of the Election Commission here at its secretariat in connection with the holding of LG polls in the province, which was attended, among others, by the ECP members, secretary and chief secretary and secretary local government Punjab.
The CEC told the Punjab government representatives that conducting local government elections in Punjab was the responsibility of the provincial government and the Election Commission.
He emphasized that the provincial government should fulfill this responsibility and provide the necessary rules, data, notifications and maps to the Election Commission so that timely steps could be taken for delimitation.
The chief secretary briefed the Election Commission that the provincial government was sincere in holding the local government elections and the draft of the Constituency Delimitation Rules under the Local Government Act 2025 had been given to the Election Commission.
The chief election commissioner directed the office to immediately give its opinion on the draft rules to the provincial government.
The chief secretary assured the forum that the draft of the Local Government Conduct of Election Rules will be sent to the Election Commission by November 15, 2025 so that the Election Commission could give its suggestions on it.
Moreover, he maintained that the provincial government will provide the demarcation notification and classification of town corporations, municipal corporations, municipal committees and tehsil councils to the Election Commission by December 22, 2025.
Likewise, he added notifications of the number of additional union councils will be given to the Election Commission by December 31, and along with this, the certified maps of each town corporation, municipal corporation, municipal committee and tehsil council will also be provided to the election by January 10, 2026, after which the Election Commission could start delimitation.
After the briefing of the chief secretary, the Election Commission directed the chief secretary to complete all the tasks as per the proposed schedule.
In line with Article 140-A of the Constitution and Section 219(4) of the Elections Act, the Election Commission is required to hold elections within 120 days of the expiry of local government bodies’ terms. However, these elections continue to face delays for one reason or the other.
