RAWALPINDI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has completed the delimitation of Rawalpindi district, creating 122 neighbourhood councils and 106 village councils.

The commission has sought objections on the new delimitation by Feb 25.

After promulgation of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance 2021 on Dec 13 last year, zoning committees started the delimitation process on Jan 11, and published the preliminary lists on Feb 11.

As per the schedule announced by the ECP, voters have been asked to submit objections regarding the delimitation to the constituency committee by Feb 25. The zonal committees will remove objections by March 12.

ECP asks voters to file objections on new delimitation by Feb 25

From March 13 to 19, the zoning committee will prepare the final list. The final list of the neighbourhood and village councils will be published on March 22.

According to a election commission notification, there will be 122 neighbourhood councils in urban areas and 106 village councils in rural areas.

The objector to delimitation has to file an application having a court ticket of Rs100. The application will be accepted only through post. The applicant can file the objection only on the basis of the 2017 census data.

The Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation (RMC) now has 98 neighborhood councils, tehsil Murree two neighbourhood councils and 21 village councils, tehsil Kotli Sattian three neighborhood and nine village Councils.

Moreover, tehsil Kahuta has four neighborhood and 12 village councils, Kallar Syedan four neighborhood and 10 village councils.

There are six neighborhood councils and 28 village councils in tehsil Gujar Khan. Daulatullah Town Committee has one neighborhood council.

Tehsil Rawalpindi has 17 village councils and Taxila has four neighborhood councils and nine village councils.

According to the new law, the union councils have been abolished and the system of neighborhood councils (NCs) and village councils (VCs) has been introduced.

In the municipal and town committees (now defunct) formed by the Punjab government in 2019, the neighborhood councils were formed on an average population of 15,000 with a minimum margin of 10pc increase in population and maximum population would be 16,500.

Elections for neighborhood councils (NCs) and village councils (VCs) will be held in the first phase.

Elections for metropolitan corporations and district councils will be held after completion of the neighborhood and village council elections.

The new demarcations have been rejected by the former chairman of the union councils who said those who chanted slogans to solve the problems of the citizens at their doorsteps have undermined the concept of local government.

Former chairman of Union Council Rehmatabad Taj Abbasi and Chaudhry Babar Hussain of Union Council 78 Dhoke Munshi said the union councils had been divided into several parts.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2022