PESHAWAR: The delimitation campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has entered final stage with the province divided into 3,170 village and neighbourhood councils, according to the relevant officials.

Of these local bodies, 2,679 are village councils and 491 neighbourhood councils, the officials said, adding that preparations for the upcoming local government elections are underway.

Village councils have been created in the rural areas and neighbourhood councils in the urban areas.

According to the Local Government and Rural Development Department officials, the delimitation drive has entered its final stage after the people approached the relevant divisional appellate authority (DDA) with objections about the delimitation campaign.

The objections came from the voters not satisfied with the relevant district delimitation officers’ (DDOs) response to their objections about the preliminary creation of village and neighbourhood councils.

The officials said the DDOs had received 1,228 objections and suggestions across the province on the preliminary delimitation of the village and neighbourhood councils created for the first time under the Local Government Act, 2013.

They said most people through their objections had demanded increase in the number of village councils.

Under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Councils (Delimitation) Rules, 2013, the residents of the newly-created village and neighbourhood councils could submit their objections and suggestions to the secretary of the former union councils and DDOs.

The rules have also empowered the residents to approach the DAAs in their respective districts and submit their objections about the response of the DDOs.The DDOs are deputy commissioners, while DAAs are headed by the divisional commissioners.

Officials said minor changes were expected in the preliminary lists of village and neighbourhood councils.

The erstwhile union councils have been turned into wards for the purpose of district and tehsil/town elections.

Each of the wards has been divided into two to three village and neighbourhood councils.

The officials expressed the hope that the delimitation campaign would be completed by the January 15 deadline set by the local government department.

They said ground work had already been completed and only paperwork was left so changes to village and neighbourhood councils, if required, would not take much time.

Around 10 people have submitted their objections to DAA in Peshawar district, insiders told Dawn.

Of them, two were against the decision of the DDO and eight applicants had directly approached to the DAA, they said.

The insiders said the DAA had entertained only three objections of the total including increasing a village council in Maryamzai village.

They said the final list of the village and neighbourhood councils in Peshawar would be issued within the next few days.

The minimum and maximum population in each village and neighbourhood council is 2,000 and 10,000 respectively.

According to the Local Government Act, 2013, the minimum number of general seats in each village and neighbourhood council is five and could be increased up to 10 due to increase in population in the respective village and neighbourhood councils.

Each village/neighbourhood council has five reserved seats, including two for women and one each for pheasant, youth and minority.