RAWALPINDI: Local government elections will be held in 2020 after the tenure of the cantonment boards ends in December, a notification issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said.

Local government elections were held in 48 cantonment boards in April 2015 on directives of the Supreme Court.

The elected members have a four-year tenure. The next elections were to be held in 2019.

The elections were held under the Political Parties Act for the first time. Earlier, elections in the cantonment areas were not held on party basis.

There was some confusion about when the tenure of the elected members would end, but the ECP has said the tenure of elected members begins on the date they take oath.

According to a notification issued by the ECP on May 22, the term of office of the cantonment board is four years from the date of the oath as per section 67 of the Cantonment Board Ordinance 2002.

It said the commission had considered that members of all cantonment boards took oath on different dates.

To maintain uniformity with respect to the term of the cantonment boards, the ECP decided that the terms would start from Dec 10, 2015, when the Cherat Cantonment Board members took oath. The ECP then decided to fix Dec 9, 2019, as the date when their term ends.

A senior Military Lands and Cantonments official told Dawn that the term for cantonment board members from Rawalpindi and Chaklala has been extended by six months, as they took oath in June but will be allowed to work until December.

He said the next elections would likely be held next year, as elections are to be held 120 days after the term expires.

A senior PTI leader from the cantonment areas said the ruling party wants to change the cantonment act to bring back the old system on non-party based local elections in the cantonment areas.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2019