ECP Orders Fresh Islamabad Local Poll Schedule Under 2015 Law

The Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday ordered its office to immediately prepare and announce a fresh programme for local government elections in the Islamabad Capital Territory. The decision seeks to restart an electoral process repeatedly disrupted by legislative changes, revised delimitations and withdrawn polling schedules.

A five-member bench led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja issued the directive while hearing a case concerning the prolonged absence of an elected local administration in the federal capital. Commission members Nisar Ahmed Durrani, Shah Muhammad Jatoi, Babar Hassan Bharwana and retired Justice Ikramullah Khan joined the proceedings.

The case followed notices issued to the Interior Ministry secretary and Islamabad’s chief commissioner. Interior Secretary Ahmed Raza Sarwar appeared before the commission, while Additional Deputy Commissioner Uzair Ali Khan represented the chief commissioner alongside senior election officials responsible for policy, law and local government elections.

In its short order, the commission invoked its constitutional and statutory authority under Articles 140A, 218, 219 and 220, the Elections Act of 2017 and the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act of 2015. It directed officials to complete all consequential steps promptly and in accordance with the law so the electoral process could proceed without another unnecessary delay.

The commission determined that the capital’s elections should be conducted under the 2015 local government law, which remains legally effective after a 2026 amendment ordinance expired. During the hearing, officials said constituencies had been delimited six times and election schedules issued four times, illustrating the administrative disruption created by repeated alterations to the governing framework.

Islamabad has remained without an elected local government since the previous administration’s term expired in February 2021. The capital’s only local polls were held in 2015 for 50 union councils, after which the PML-N secured control and Sheikh Anser Aziz became the city’s first mayor. Existing law requires replacement elections within 120 days of a local government completing its term.

Subsequent attempts to hold polls repeatedly collapsed. The number of union councils was expanded first to 101 and later to 125, while elections scheduled for December 2022 were postponed after a late amendment. Another programme set polling for February 15, 2026, but it was withdrawn after a presidential ordinance replaced the metropolitan structure with three town corporations and triggered another delimitation exercise.

That ordinance expired in September before replacement legislation could be enacted, leaving election authorities to determine which framework remained applicable. The Interior Ministry argued that reverting to the 2015 law could require earlier work to be discarded, but the chief election commissioner maintained that existing delimitations would not be affected and questioned the government’s willingness to hold the overdue polls.

The fresh directive could restore elected representation for residents of the capital after more than five years of administrative uncertainty. The immediate next step is the publication of the formal election programme, which should establish nomination, scrutiny, campaigning and polling deadlines while testing whether the process can finally proceed without another legal or political interruption.