The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday withdrew a notified schedule for local government elections in Punjab, as the Punjab Local Government Act, 2025 has superseded the 2022 legislation under which the electoral body had begun delimitations.
In a statement, the ECP said the decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, with participants informed that the nullification of the 2022 law required new delimitation.
“The schedule for local government elections in Punjab has been withdrawn,” read the statement. “The Punjab government has been granted four weeks to frame delimitation and demarcation rules under the 2025 Act. No further extensions will be given,” it added.
According to officials, the decision stems from a request by the Punjab government to be provided time to prepare rules and finalize administrative arrangements in accordance with the new law. Once the new rules are devised, the delimitation process can proceed afresh.
In its statement, the ECP emphasized that if the Punjab government does not submit its rules within four weeks, it would take up the matter for review and further direction.
Punjab has not had a local government system since 2019, when the PTI introduced new legislation, prematurely dissolving local bodies elected in 2015. The 2019 law was supposed to lead to local body polls that never materialized. The Supreme Court eventually restored the local bodies, with their tenure completing on Dec. 31, 2021—though lawmakers lamented that they were not granted any resources post-restoration. Another law was passed in 2022, this time by the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)-led coalition, which also failed to yield any elections.
Under the 2025 law, local bodies would serve for five years, with each union council comprising 13 members representing a population of 25,000 people, including nine directly elected councilors and four reserved seats for women, youth, laborers and minorities. The polls would be conducted without any party affiliation, but all elected members would be required to join a political party within a month of their election.