ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has flexed its muscles to ensure early holding of much-delayed local government elections in Punjab and cantonment boards by fixing hearing of the cases on Oct 28.
According to a press release issued on Wednesday, notices have been issued to the chief secretary and secretary of local government in the Punjab case, while notices have been issued to defence secretary and director general of military lands and cantonments in the case of cantonments.
The move comes days after the ECP rejected the Punjab government’s proposal to postpone local polls till April 2027.
The ECP had proposed holding Punjab LG elections on Dec 14 and sent a draft schedule to the provincial government.
Under the draft, nomination papers were to be filed from Oct 27 to 30, with polling on Dec 14. The Punjab government, however, in its response on Oct 14 proposed holding elections in three phases in April 2027, citing dense fog, severe cold in December and Ramazan in February.
The ECP termed the response unsatisfactory, noting that consultations under Section 219(3) of the Elections Act had concluded on Aug 20, during which the province had agreed to polls between Dec 15, 2026 and Jan 15, 2027.
The ECP then directed its office to submit the draft programme for approval and directed Punjab to provide lists of DROs, ROs and AROs within a week. The commission also directed its office to immediately present the draft election programme for Punjab for the commission’s approval.
Punjab writes to ECP again
After deliberating on the ECP’s response to the proposal, Punjab’s Local Government and Community Development Department has requested the commission to convene a meeting at the earliest for consultation with a ministerial committee formed for the purpose to finalise the LG elections schedule in Punjab.
Punjab last held local government elections in 2015 under the Punjab Local Government Act, 2013.
Polling took place in phases between October and December 2015 and elected councils assumed office in 2017 after indirect elections.
The PTI government dissolved elected bodies in April 2019, but the move was struck down by the Supreme Court and councils completed their term on Dec 31, 2021. Since then, successive governments have amended or replaced the local government law — from 2013 Act to 2019, 2022 and now 2025 Act — forcing the ECP to restart delimitation each time. Under Article 140A, elections were due by April 2022.
Similarly, cantonment boards last held LG elections in 2015 and 2021. The ECP has said delimitation in all cantonments is complete but it was awaiting formal request and response from the ministry of defence, to which it had written several letters and also sent a letter to the prime minister without response.
Mansoor Malik in Lahore also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2026
