Islamabad, October 21, 2025: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday withdrew the delimitation schedule for Punjab’s local body elections following the enactment of a new local government law in the province.
According to an official statement, the decision was made during a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja. The ECP secretary briefed the meeting that the Punjab Assembly had recently passed the Local Government Act 2025, which has also received the governor’s assent.
With the new legislation coming into force, the Local Government Act 2022 stands repealed, prompting the commission to withdraw the earlier delimitation notification issued under the previous legal framework.
Earlier, on October 8, the ECP had announced plans to hold local government elections in Punjab in December 2025 under the 2022 Act. A five-member bench headed by the CEC had directed that the delimitation of constituencies be completed within two months to pave the way for the polls.
At that time, CEC Raja had expressed concern over repeated delays in conducting local government elections, terming it “a matter of embarrassment” that polls had yet to be held in Islamabad and Punjab.
The ECP had also been facing pressure from political parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which had called on the commission to ensure that the long-pending local government elections were not delayed any further.
