Summary The Election Commission of Pakistan issued a revised schedule for Punjab union council delimitation, with objections accepted until July 4 and final list due on August 17.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The Election Commission of Pakistan has issued a revised schedule for the delimitation of union councils in Punjab.
According to the schedule, objections regarding the delimitation can be filed until July 4, while decisions on objections related to union council boundaries will be made by July 29.
The last date for informing Punjab union council delimitation committees about the decisions has been set for August 7.
The schedule further stated that the final list of Punjab union council delimitations will be published on August 17.
After completion of the delimitation process, the formal election schedule for local government elections in Punjab will be issued.
BACKGROUND
Local government elections in Punjab have faced repeated delays since 2019. In April of that year, the then Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) provincial government dissolved the local government institutions. The decision was later overturned by the Supreme Court, which restored the elected bodies. They subsequently completed their constitutional term on December 31, 2021.
Under Article 140-A of the Constitution and Section 219(4) of the Elections Act, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is required to hold local government elections within 120 days of the expiry of local councils' tenure. Accordingly, the polls should have been conducted by the end of April 2022.
However, the elections were repeatedly postponed as the Punjab government introduced a series of amendments to the province's local government law, delaying the electoral process.
On October 8, 2025, the ECP announced that local government elections would be held in December 2025 and directed the Punjab government to immediately begin delimitation of constituencies, with instructions to complete the exercise within two months.
The plan was revised less than two weeks later after the Punjab government enacted the Punjab Local Government Act, 2025. Following the introduction of the new law, the ECP withdrew the delimitation schedule prepared under the 2022 legislation and granted the provincial government four weeks to finalize fresh delimitation and demarcation rules.
Subsequently, on October 31, 2025, the ECP stated that local government elections in Punjab could not be held before the second quarter of 2026, citing the absence of the legal and administrative prerequisites necessary to conduct the polls.
