ECP rejects KP govt’s plea, refuses to put off delimitation exercise in 24 districts

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday rejected the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s plea to postpone the delimitation exercise in 24 districts of the province for the upcoming local government elections.

According to informed sources, the KP government had sought a delay of 180 days in conducting the delimitation exercise in 24 districts.

Meanwhile, the province’s chief secretary had also written to the electoral watchdog, seeking a delay in local body polls due to the provincial government’s plan to amend the Local Government Act, 2013.

In his letter, the chief secretary had also written that the ECP had not consulted the provincial government before initiating the delimitation process. In addition, bad weather and law and order situation in some districts were also cited as reasons for the delay.

However, sources said the electoral body deliberated upon the letter and emphasised that the ECP was bound to conduct delimitation and local government elections in accordance with the existing provincial local government laws and rules under Article 140-A, Article 222(6), Sections 17, 219 and 221 of the Elections Act, 2013.

Rejecting the provincial government’s request, the ECP said that since 2024, it had been continuously convincing the provincial government that if amendments were required in the local government laws, then these should be done in a timely manner, sources said.

Moreover, it was underlined that consultation with the provincial government was not necessary for the delimitation exercise under the Constitution and the law, sources said.

It was maintained that the provincial government had the power to legislate and make amendments; however, the ECP could not be bound to stop the delimitation process under the existing local government laws based on the mere desire to make legislation or amendments, they added.

Sources said that, as the KP Local Government Act 2013 and the Local Government Rules 2021 were in force, the ECP had completed the initial delimitation of 23 districts and published it on March 5, 2026, accordingly.

After the publication of preliminary delimitation lists, the ECP had started the process of receiving objections to ensure the timely holding of delimitation and local government elections in the province.

The ECP said that weather conditions, transportation difficulties and law and order situation did not hinder the delimitation process because population data was mainly used during the exercise and electoral rolls were not required for this process.

The sources said the provincial government had also been informed that the ECP had not delimited areas where new districts had been carved out or revenue boundaries had been changed.

In this regard, the sources said the provincial government had been asked in writing to provide the ECP with the number of tehsil councils, village councils and neighbourhood councils in these districts, along with other relevant data and maps, so that a schedule for demarcation in these districts could be issued.