LAHORE, March 22: The Punjab government has finally notified the Punjab Local Government (Election) Rules 2026, setting the stage for party-based local body elections in the province.

However, confusion still persists regarding the implementation procedures, as the rules fall short of explaining how the election of nine councilors from a union council will play out, given that the voters can only cast one secret vote for their preferred candidate. The top nine candidates securing highest votes will be declared elected.

The confusion stemming from the enactment of the Punjab Local Government Act (PLGA) 2025 persist even after the notification of the election rules, because a political party will not be able to allot symbol to its candidates at the grassroots level, allowing the voters to elect the candidates of their own choice.

“Yes, this confusion persists because the Punjab government is bound by the superior courts which assert that local body elections will be held on party basis – unlike in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP),” says a senior officer, who remained closely involved in the framing of LG election rules.

The officer says the KP’s LG election law allows holding of councillors polls in the same manner, but with a clear-cut mention of `non-party elections’. The Punjab government, however, refrained from mentioning ‘non-party elections’ in the law because of the binding rulings by the Lahore High Court (LHC) and the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan.

“Ideally, the councillors election should have been held on non-party basis and the top nine vote-getters join political parties,” the officer says. All further elections for upper tiers in the local body system will be held on party basis, the officer adds.

The rules have been gazette notified under the PLGA 2025 that repeals the local government election rules 2022. It details inherently `non-party election’ at the grassroots level. The rules explain all local government tiers except the tier at district level. Officials say there will be no tier at district level, but a coordination committee to be represented by the chairmen of different lower tiers.

PTI’s DILEMMA: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leadership has been contesting its case for holding local government elections on party-basis. However, the irony of the situation is that the PTI has lost its recognition as a political party, along with its election symbol.

MPA Sheikh Imtiaz Mahmood had submitted a petition with the Lahore High Court that the local government elections should be held on party-basis at the grassroots level.

It had also posed a question about the procedure for award of party tickets to the candidates for the nine councillor seats. The PLGA 2025 and the election rules explicitly call for ‘One Man – One Vote’, with nine councillors to be elected on the basis of highest votes.

An outcome of the case is expected after the deputy attorney general of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will seek clarification from the commission and submit the same before the high court by the end of this month.

When asked why PTI is contesting in the case for part-based LG elections when it has lost its identity as a political party with an election symbol, Mr Mahmood says he is doing his duty, while the party’s senior lawyers are looking after the party symbol case in the Supreme Court.

PLGA ELECTION RULES: The Election Rules’ Chapter X “Miscellaneous” says any political party, enlisted under the Elections Act, may nominate a candidate to contest an election under the Act.

The head of a political party may nominate a validly nominated candidate to contest an election as a candidate of such political party.

Of 10 chapters, Chapter-II deals with the powers and functions of the Election Commission to organise elections. It requires the commission to consult with the government committee concerned and fix a date or several dates for election of one or more local governments.

Significantly, the Chapter-III deals with the election of nine general members of a union council through secret ballot on the basis of adult franchise. Entire local area of the UC shall be a multi-member ward for each contesting candidate.

It says the returning officer (RO), on the day following the withdrawal day, shall allot symbols from the list provided by the Election Commission.

While the rules say a symbol reserved for a political party by the commission shall not be allotted to an independently contesting candidate, they do not explain how a political party’s candidates be treated as its nominees.

The RO shall declare the nine candidates securing the highest number of votes in descending order as returned candidates.

Since many of political parties’ candidates amongst independent candidates will be contesting the elections, the returned candidate on general seat will be required to join a political party within 30 days of publication of his name in the official gazette.

The rules’ Chapters IV, V, VI and VII deal with the “election to reserved seats of union council; election of chairperson and vice-chairperson of union council as joint candidate; election of reserved seats of town corporation, municipal corporation, municipal committee and tehsil council; and the election of mayor and deputy mayors of town corporation and municipal corporation, chairperson and vice-chairperson of a municipal committee and chairperson and vice-chairpersons of tehsil councils, respectively.

Besides identifying the electoral college for each election, the rules explain that all these elections shall be held through show of hand at designated local body premises.

All the returned candidates may join a political party within 30 days of publication of their names in the official gazette,” the rules say.

The Chapter-VIII explains fee structure for candidates, limits of election expenses and statements of assets, while the Chapter-IX enumerates responsibilities of the returning officers after polling.

The gazette notification also includes all forms required for the local government elections.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2026