LAHORE – The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Lahore has decided to field all its organisational office-bearers in the upcoming local government elections, with an initial list of 579 candidates set to be submitted to the provincial leadership on Wednesday.
Under the decision, office-bearers of the party’s central, town, zonal and union council organisations in Lahore will contest the local government elections.
The PPP Lahore leadership has directed all party organisations to submit lists of union council office-bearers and local government candidates by October 24. The lists must be submitted to the party’s Lahore office.
The party has also invited applications for tickets for the positions of chairman, vice chairman, mayor and deputy mayor. Applications for these positions must be submitted by October 24.
The final lists of local government candidates from Lahore will be forwarded to the provincial leadership by October 25.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s announced schedule, PPP candidates will submit their nomination papers at the relevant election offices from October 27 to 30.
The party’s move aims to ensure the participation of its organisational leadership in the local government elections across Lahore.
Earlier in the day, The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ordered local government elections in the federal capital under the Islamabad Local Government Act 2015 and announced that the election schedule will be issued today.
Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja announced the decision while hearing a case concerning delays in holding local government elections in Islamabad. Officials from the ECP and the Ministry of Interior attended the proceedings.
Islamabad last held local government elections in 2015, while the elected local government completed its term on February 14, 2021. Fresh elections have not been held since then, despite the legal requirement to conduct polls within 120 days after the expiry of the previous term.
During the hearing, ECP Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal Malik told the commission that the federal government had issued an ordinance concerning local government elections. However, the ordinance expired on September 6 while the delimitation process was underway.
He said the final list of constituencies for Islamabad’s local government elections had been published on October 14. The commission had also sent reminders to the Ministry of Interior, but the required local government rules had not been provided.
He said the Ministry of Law declined to approve the rules, while the federal government had yet to introduce a new local government law.
The commission decided to proceed under the existing 2015 legislation. Raja said conducting elections under the law would not affect the completed delimitation process.
Expressing concern over the prolonged delay, the chief election commissioner remarked that the situation suggested the government did not want local government elections in Islamabad. He said the commission was compelled to issue an order to ensure the polls proceeded.
The ECP has directed that the election schedule be issued on October 21.
