The Pakistan Electoral Commission decided to hold local elections in Punjab during the last week of December this year, following a hearing on delays in the organization of polls. The decision was made by a bench of four members chaired by the Chief Commissioner of the Sikandar Sultan Raja elections.
The Pakistan Electoral Commission (ECP) said that the elections will take place under the local law on the local government. The Commission ordered the realization of the constituencies to end within two months, the work already underway.
During the hearing, ECP officials said that efforts had been made to organize local elections in Sindh, Balutchistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Boards of Directors, but provincial governments, in particular Punjab, have caused delays and obstacles.
The Punjab government has changed local law several times during this period, further delaying the elections despite repeated delimitation exercises and PCE announcements. The mandate of local Punjab organizations expired on December 31, 2021 and no election has taken place for more than three years.
Officials have also specified that there are no legal obstacles to the elections under the local government law of 2022. If electronic voting machines (EVM) are not available, the ballots can be used.
The chief election commissioner, Sikandar, the Sultan Raja, criticized the delay of three years and nine months as shame at the same time at ECP and the governments involved. He underlined the committee’s constitutional duty to ensure that the elections are held, adding that if a government does not wish to organize local elections, it should modify the Constitution accordingly.
The Punjab government explained that floods and assembly sessions had delayed the approval of the new local law of governments but assured the committee that the bill would be presented at the next session of the Assembly.
The ECP’s decision should be announced imminent, after which the delimitation will start immediately.
The High Court of Lahore will hear a related request from Jamaat-E-Islami on October 14, to which the ECP must respond.
