The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday began consultations with the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government on fixing the schedule for long-delayed local government elections in 23 districts of the province.

The tenure of the LGs in the K-P ended on March 15 this year. Under the K-P Local Government Act, 2013, local representatives are elected for a four-year term. 

According to a statement issued by the ECP spokesperson, the commission held an important meeting to discuss the election schedule. The meeting was chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and attended by members of the ECP, the ECP secretary, the K-P chief secretary, the provincial secretary for local government, and other senior officials from the provincial government and the commission.

Addressing the meeting, the chief election commissioner underscored the importance of establishing local governments, saying that holding local government elections was a constitutional requirement under Article 140 of the Constitution.

“Under Section 219(4) of the Elections Act, the Election Commission is bound to conduct local government elections within 120 days of the expiry of the term of local governments,” he was quoted as saying.

The commission was informed that the tenure of local government institutions in K-P had expired on March 14 and June 19, 2026, respectively.

The ECP was also briefed that it had completed the delimitation process in the province’s 23 districts and was fully prepared to conduct elections there.

Read: ECP turns up heat on K-P, Islamabad over LG polls

The commission said consultations with representatives of the provincial government were under way in accordance with Section 219(3) of the Elections Act and Rule 15(1) of the K-P Local Councils (Conduct of Elections) Rules, 2021, so that the election date for the 23 districts could be announced in accordance with the law.

Briefing the meeting, the K-P chief secretary said the provincial government had received the ECP’s letter seeking consultations on the election schedule on July 8 and had immediately forwarded a summary to the provincial cabinet.

“We are administratively prepared to assist the Election Commission and make all necessary arrangements for the elections,” he said.

The ECP asked the chief secretary to provide the commission with a copy of the summary.

The meeting decided that consultations on fixing the election date for the 23 districts would resume after 15 days, the ECP spokesperson said.