ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), after being questioned by Supreme Court (SC) over the delay in holding local government polls, has agreed to hold the elections in Punjab and Sindh by September 2015.

The ECP Secretary Syed Sher Afgan submitted a schedule of holding LG polls before the SC in which it was suggested that polls will be held in three stages — with the third stage ending on March 26, 2016.

However, SC rejected the proposed schedule and asked the election commission to hold the polling four months before its given schedule, as a lot of time has already been wasted by the election commission. After extensive debate in the court, ECP agreed to revise its proposed schedule and hold the polls as per the directive of apex court.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General of Pakistan Salman Butt submitted before the court that local government elections in all the cantonments of the country will be held on May 16, 2015.

LG polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be held on June 7, 2015, and ECP has notified the court in this regard. Hearing of the case was then adjourned till Thursday.

Earlier, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the schedule for local federal, provincial and cantonment board elections from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and announced the deadline of 8pm Wednesday.

The three-member bench which was headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja expressed displeasure over the two-year delay and said discussions regarding local body elections are limited to "management aspects", adding that a schedule for the elections must be submitted by today.

The apex court also added that if satisfied with the schedule, the next hearing will take place tomorrow. It warned that if was not satisifed, the court would call a hearing after 8pm.

The ECP's Attorney General and Secretary Syed Sher Afgan are currently carrying out consultations on this matter.

Also read: Delay in local government elections irks Supreme Court

The governments are dragging their feet on the issue of holding the much-needed local government elections in Punjab, Sindh and cantonment areas, the Supreme Court said last week.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk took up a matter relating to implementation of its March 20 judgment last year, which had vested Election Commission of Pakistan with the authority of carrying out delimitation of the constituencies and then holding the elections in Sindh and Punjab. The verdict had also declared the absence of the local government system for over nine years as against the Constitution and the law.

Take a look at: SC comes close to issuing contempt notice to PM

The Supreme Court on Tuesday came close to issuing a contempt notice to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after it rejected a government plea stating that an ordinance to hold local government elections in all 43 cantonment boards of the country was ready.

“This is enough for us to issue (contempt) notice as our orders prima facie appear to not have been implemented,” retorted Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja.