Local government elections in Islamabad will be held on December 20, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced, issuing the election schedule along with strict instructions to keep the process transparent and impartial, The Express Tribune reported.
The announcement follows the ECP’s decision to hold the polls under the 2015 law and its order for the schedule to be issued immediately.
Key dates
| Step | Date |
|---|---|
| Nomination papers available | from October 30 |
| Nomination papers filed | November 2 to 6 |
| List of candidates published | November 7 |
| Scrutiny of nomination papers | November 9 to 13 |
| Appeals filed | November 14 to 18 |
| Appeals decided | November 19 to 23 |
| Final list of candidates | November 25 |
| Election symbols allotted | November 26 |
| Polling, 8am to 4pm | December 20 |
| Results announced | December 21 to 24 |
Candidates can collect nomination papers from October 30. Anyone whose papers are rejected at scrutiny will have five days, from November 14 to 18, to appeal. Once the final list is out on November 25 and symbols are allotted the next day, candidates will have just over three weeks to campaign before polling day.
Rules for officials and campaigners
The ECP has banned the use of government resources for campaigning. Transfers and postings of government officers are barred once the schedule is announced, and public servants cannot take leave without the commission’s approval.
The President, the Prime Minister, federal ministers and governors are not allowed to campaign. Members of parliament, senators and local government representatives can take part in campaigning.
The commission warned that legal action would be taken against government officers found influencing results and against public office-holders who break election laws. Election offices must stay open on public holidays, election work must be done during official working hours, and the code of conduct must be strictly followed.
All institutions and officials must follow its instructions so the process is completed “transparently, fairly and in accordance with the law”, the ECP said.
Why the 2015 law
Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja has said that holding local elections is a constitutional duty, but that the federal government failed to provide a new local government law and the rules needed to hold them under it.
The ECP said delimitation had been carried out six times and election schedules had been issued four times in Islamabad without the vote going ahead. Holding the elections under the 2015 law, it said, would not affect the existing delimitation.
Islamabad has had no elected local government since the last councils’ term expired in February 2021. When it ordered the polls under the 2015 law, Raja said it appeared the government did not want to hold the elections at all.
The wider debate on councils
The Islamabad vote comes as a new report by a task force on local governance argues that provinces have weakened elected councils across Pakistan. It calls for guaranteed funding and directly elected mayors, and for development funds run by lawmakers to be abolished or handed to councils.
Punjab has also proposed holding local elections in three phases next April. If the Islamabad schedule holds, residents of the capital will choose their local representatives before the end of the year.
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