ISLAMABAD: The submissions for local government elections in the federal capital are opening from today (Friday), with the returning officers having issued public notices, Thursday, inviting the nominations for these polls.

The nomination papers can be filed with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) till this Tuesday, as per the elections schedule issued by the poll body last week.

As many as 32 assistant returning officers and 16 returning officers, headed by a district returning officer, are supervising the September 29 elections of 125 union councils of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), according to the data issued by the ECP.

The ICT has 125 union councils comprising 750 general wards and 250 women wards. Each of the UCs comprises six general wards and two women wards.

The ECP had launched the delimitation exercise for ICT LG elections this June 1 that was completed on July 23.

Before the delimitation, the ICT had 101 UCs.

The LG elections in the federal capital are being held after a prolonged delay of over three years.

Presently, the LG systems are functional in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan— whereas the ECP failed to hold the LG elections in ICT and Punjab within the 120-day stipulated period, upon the expiry of their respective terms, under Section 219(4) of the Elections Act 2017.

This law provides that the ECP shall hold LG elections within 120 days of the expiry of local bodies’ term of a province, cantonment or the ICT.

The ICT local bodies’ term expired on February 14, 2021 and that of Punjab expired on December 31, 2021.

Furthermore, Section 219(3) of the Elections Act 2017 provides that the ECP shall, in consultation with the federal or provincial government concerned, make an announcement of the date or dates on which LG elections in a province, cantonment or ICT are to be held.

This June, the ECP said that it decided to finally hold the LG elections in Punjab, and directed the Punjab government to fulfil the related formalities. However, since then, the poll body has kept mum over the matter, failing to issue any roadmap for the LG elections in Pakistan’s largest province.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024