ECP orders local government polls in KP districts, excludes 12 under emergency measures
ISLAMABAD — The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has ordered local government (LG) elections to be held immediately in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts where delimitation has been completed, while keeping 12 districts covered by special emergency measures out of this round. A five-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja announced the reserved verdict on Wednesday, reopening the path to restoring a local government system that has been inactive for months.
A reserved verdict, clear directions
Under the order, the commission’s office must submit the election programme for approval for districts where delimitation is final. For districts where the exercise is still incomplete, delimitation schedules are to be issued. The verdict had been reserved a day earlier, after a hearing at which the provincial government asked for the polls to be deferred, citing the law and order situation, the imposition of emergency and the deployment of troops under Article 245. The bench was told that delimitation had been completed in 23 districts, where elections could proceed by official order.
Why 12 districts are out
Five districts — Bannu, Mohmand, Orakzai, Lakki Marwat and North Waziristan — will not be included in the election programme under the federal government’s order dated October 11. Seven more — Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Bajaur, Khyber, Kurram, Lower South Waziristan and Upper South Waziristan — are excluded from the delimitation schedule as well. Together, these 12 districts fall under the special administrative framework run through the Area Representative and Development Council (ARDC) during the emergency. The commission also ordered the number of village and neighbourhood councils, and the category-wise reserved seats for tehsil councils, to be adjusted in line with existing revenue boundaries in Karak, Hangu, Swat, Bar Swat, Battagram, Paharpur and Allai.
The background: a suspended system
Local government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been inactive since the terms of elected representatives expired — the first phase in March 2026 and the second in June 2026. Amendments to local government laws by the provincial government, along with administrative problems, then held up delimitation. Matters grew more complicated on October 11, when the federal government imposed emergency in the province and placed it under governor’s rule, citing what it called the provincial government’s “deliberate disengagement from the fight against terrorism”. The commission’s order is now the first concrete step towards bringing democratic local bodies back in the districts where boundaries are settled, while the 12 districts under special arrangements will have to wait for those arrangements to end.
