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ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has set July 1 as the deadline for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad authorities to submit pending maps and data needed for local government (LG) elections.
The tenure of LGs in KP ended on March 15, while the term of the last local government in Islamabad expired in February 2021.
Preparations for LG polls in the federal capital, KP and Punjab were reviewed at a meeting held at the ECP Secretariat on Tuesday.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja presided over the meeting with ECP members, secretary and senior officials.
Schedule for LG polls in Punjab likely to be released in mid-August
The ECP expressed concern over the KP government’s failure to provide the requisite maps and other data for 15 districts despite repeated requests.
Invoking Article 220 of the Constitution, which binds executive authorities to assist the ECP, the commission ordered notices to be issued to the KP chief secretary and local government secretary for personal appearance to explain the delay.
They were also directed to provide all required maps and data before July 1, when the case has been fixed for hearing.
Regarding the federal capital, the commission was briefed that the case regarding delimitation of town corporations and notification of the number of union councils in each town corporation in Islamabad had been sent to the federal cabinet for approval.
However, neither the notifications nor the maps have been provided to the ECP till date.
Taking note, the commission fixed Islamabad’s case for hearing on July 1 as well, and ordered notices to the Islamabad chief commissioner and deputy commissioner.
For Punjab, the ECP directed its office to complete all necessary preparations for announcing the election schedule as soon as the delimitation exercise is completed. As the delimitation schedule for LG polls in Punjab was issued in April, the exercise is supposed to be completed by August 10. This would enable the commission to immediately announce the LG poll schedule for the province.
Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2026
