Punjab local government elections will take place in the last week of April 2023, according to a decision made on Wednesday by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), even though the province’s LG system’s term is set to expire on January 1, 2022.
At a meeting of the ECP presided over by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, the decision in this regard was made. ECP members, the ECP secretary, the chief secretary of Punjab, and the secretary of Local Government of Punjab were among those present during the meeting.
Raja made it clear to the chief secretary of Punjab that the commission had announced the election timetable and had either already held or would hold local government elections in every province. He emphasised that only Punjab was still unable to hold elections as a result of legislative changes and other obstructionist measures.
He highlighted that the commission would exercise its constitutional authority to ensure the conduct of local government elections if any changes were made to the legislation governing local governments right away.
He instructed the representatives from Punjab to give the province election commissioner and the district election commissioners copies of the ECP regulations and other information right away.
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The ECP secretary had earlier informed the panel that the tenure of local bodies in Punjab has come to an end on January 1, 2022. Due to two changes in local government regulations, the commission had to work twice to determine the boundaries of the electorate for local bodies.
The Punjab government notified the Punjab Local Government Act on November 16, 2022, according to which the commission will begin delimitation work for a third time, it was reported to the forum. The Punjab Local Government Constituency Rules and the Punjab Local Government Conduct of Election Rules have not yet been made public for this.
The commission reaffirmed that the Punjab government was dedicated to helping elections be held on schedule in accordance with the Pakistani Constitution, the law, and Supreme Court of Pakistan directives.
In order to enable the commission to begin delimitation work as soon as possible, the provincial government should be required to provide the commission with election and delimitation rules, as well as other maps and data right away.
Additionally, representatives of the provincial government should be consulted regarding the date for holding elections in the province today so that LG elections can be held right away.
According to the representatives of the Punjab government, the draught rules would be discussed at the following cabinet meeting in light of the ECP’s suggestions. And as soon as practicable after these rules were approved, the commission would have access to copies of them. In a similar manner, district election commissioners received maps and other information from deputy commissioners.
Regarding discussions surrounding the election date in Punjab, the chief secretary stated that the commission should choose a suitable date after taking into account the upcoming Ramazan month.