ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued on Wednesday the schedule for the delimitation of union councils in Punjab, taking a significant step towards holding long-delayed local government elections in the province.

Delimitation is the legal prerequisite for holding local government polls. Once the final list of constituencies is published, the ECP will be in a position to announce the election schedule for Punjab’s local bodies.

The ECP laid out a seven-step timeline to complete the delimitation exercise by August 10 in a notification issued under Article 222(b) of the Constitution and relevant sections of the Elections Act 2017, Punjab Local Government Act 2025, and Delimitation Rules 2026.

According to the schedule, all administrative arrangements for the delimitation of union councils are to be completed by April 16.

The preliminary list of constituencies is to be prepared from April 20 to May 21, and it will be published on May 25. Objections over delimitation can be filed from May 26 to June 23 while authorities must dispose of all objections by July 22.

Final decisions will be communicated to delimitation committees by August 4, and the final list of constituencies will be published on August 10.

In a related development, the ECP also ordered an immediate freeze on all changes to administrative boundaries in Punjab on Wednesday, directing that no alterations be made until the delimitation process for union councils was complete.

The ECP said in a notification that boundaries of all existing administrative units — including town corporations, municipal committees, and tehsil councils — will stand “ceased forthwith.”

It invoked Article 218(3) of the Constitution and Section 219(6) of the Elections Act, 2017 to enforce the restriction.

The commission said the move was necessary as the delimitation of union councils must be carried out with due regard to existing boundaries of districts, tehsils, halqas, Patwar circles, and revenue estates. Any change in these units during the process would “hamper smooth proceedings”, the notification stated.

LG elections in Punjab have been delayed for long and the matter goes back to 2019. In April that year, the then PTI-led Punjab government had dissolved the local government institutions, which were later restored by the Supreme Court and subsequently completed their term on December 31, 2021.

Under Article 140-A of the Constitution and Section 219(4) of the Elections Act, the ECP is bound to hold elections within 120 days of the expiry of the term of the local government institutions.

This meant that LG elections in Punjab were supposed to be held by the end of April 2022, but it could not be made possible as the provincial government kept on amending the LG law from time to time.

Last year, on Oct 8, the ECP ordered LG polls in December 2025 and asked Punjab to immediately start the delimitation exercise and complete the same within two months.

This order, however, was reversed in a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja on Oct 21, 2025 in light of the promulgation of a new LG law, the Punjab Local Government Act 2025 (PLGA), after a request by the Punjab government.

The ECP withdrew its original delimitation schedule for the elections issued under the 2022 local government law, giving the provincial government four weeks to finalise the delimitation and demarcation rules.

On October 31, 2025 the ECP said local government elections in Punjab would not be possible before the second quarter of 2026 as the commission would not have all the prerequisites to hold the electoral exercise during the current year.