ISLAMABAD: The Balochi­stan government has told the Election Commission of Pakistan that holding a by-election for NA-256, Khuzdar, is not possible at present due to the law and order situation in the district.

The Balochistan chief secretary and the inspector general informed an ECP meeting on Wednesday that the presence of militants, tribal disputes and the need to move police and other law-enforcement personnel from other districts made it difficult to hold the poll. They said the constituency comprised mountainous terrain where the security situation was unstable and complete security could not be provided to election staff and voters.

Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, who chaired the meeting, said that the commission was bound under the Constitution and law to hold the by-election. “The Election Commission will take an appropriate decision for the Khuzdar by-elections,” he said.

The NA-256 seat fell vacant after Balochistan National Party chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal resigned in Sept 2024.

Commission says it is bound to hold NA-256 election under Constitution

In his resignation letter to the National Assembly speaker, Mr Mengal said Balochistan had been “consistently marginalised and ignored” and that the lack of genuine representation had left him unable to bring meaningful change.

The ECP accepted the resignation in February this year and issued the by-election schedule on Feb 13. The commission suspended the schedule on March 27 on the provincial government’s request due to the deteriorating security situation.

Officials said the commission is now ready to proceed with the by-election and had sought an updated briefing from the province on the security situation.

The ECP was also briefed on local government elections in Quetta. Officials said the term of local governments in the provincial capital expired on Jan 27, 2019. The commission has since carried out two rounds of delimitation and issued three election schedules, but polling could not be held. Delimitation has now been completed, and the commission is prepared to hold LG polls.

The schedule could be issued in the second week of June this year, the meeting was told. Under Section 219(3) of the Elections Act and Section 16(2) of the Balochistan Local Government Act, consultation with the provincial government is required bef­ore holding the polls. The chief secretary said the matter would be placed before the provincial cabinet’s next meeting to decide on holding the elections in view of the law and order situation.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2026