ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s election regulatory authority on Tuesday postponed local government elections, scheduled to take place in Islamabad on December 31, citing a change in the number of the city’s administrative units, local media reported.

Last week, former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party filed a petition against PM Shehbaz Sharif’s federal government at the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The petition accused the government of attempting to gerrymander the upcoming polls by increasing the number of local administrative units — known as union councils — from 101 to 125 in the capital city.

The center, in an approved summary, said it decided to increase the union councils in the city because the existing number of units (101) was based on the population census of 2017, local media reported. It added that the population of Islamabad had grown to 205 million as of 2022.

Meanwhile, Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz (PML-N) also filed a separate petition in court, seeking to postpone the local government elections in Islamabad. The petition argued that polls cannot take place based on an old voters’ list.

On Tuesday, a five-member Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) bench heard the case and after listening to arguments from all parties, decided to postpone the polls. Following the decision, the ECP spokesperson announced in a Twitter post that polls would not be held on December 31.

“ECP’s Short Order in ICT LGE case: Keeping in view the legal provisions & the judgment of the Hon’ble High Court, Islamabad dated 23/12/2022 regarding the subject matter. Local Government Election in ICT scheduled to be held on 31/12/2022 is hereby postponed for the time being,” the tweet said.

On December 23, the IHC directed the ECP to hear all stakeholders before taking a decision on the local government elections. 

On the other hand, the government in the southern province of Sindh also reached out to the ECP, asking it to delay local government elections in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions again. The local polls in these two divisions are scheduled to be held on January 15, 2023. The Sindh government said polls should be delayed in light of “pending work related to a Supreme Court judgment,” English-language daily The News reported.

In a letter written to the ECP, the Sindh government said it is still working on the implementation of the apex court’s order on amendments made to the act and rectification of constituencies to achieve seamless devolvement of political, administrative, and financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of the local governments.

The first phase of local government elections was held in 14 districts of Sindh in June, but the second phase of polls in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions, initially scheduled for July 24, was postponed due to monsoon downpours.

The ECP said elections would take place in nine districts of the southern province on August 28, but due to the devastating floods, it was postponed to January 15.