By Asim Shahzad
LAHORE: The issue of local governments will not be resolved until the constitutional amendment is made. The local government law has come. When the election rules come, it will be clear whether the next local government elections will be held on a party or non-party basis.
There is ambiguity in the current law. Candidates can come from parties and also independently. These views were expressed by local government experts Zahid Islam and Salman Abid while addressing a seminar organized by the Bhutto Shaheed Foundation at the People’s Secretariat Model Town.
The seminar was presided over by Khan Asif Khan. On this occasion, Information Secretary PPP Central Punjab Shahzad Saeed Cheema, Faisal Mir, Asif Bashir Bhagat, Bushri Manzoor, Manika, Malik Ali Sanwal, Malik Azhar Awan, Naseer Ahmed, Arif Khan, Aamir Naseer Butt, Farooq Yousaf Gharki, Dr. Zarar Yousaf, Rana Iftikhar, Farrukh Marghub, Wazir Awan, Imran Khokhar Advocate, Khalid Gul, Arif Zafar, Abdullah Malik, Humaira Latif, Nadia Shah, Rao Shujaat, Aamir Sohail and a large number of workers were present. Addressing the seminar, Zahid Islam, Executive Director of the NGO Sangat, said that the Election Commission had issued delimitation four times and election schedule three times and withdrawn it.
On October 13, 2025, the Punjab Assembly approved this bill. The new law is similar to the old one. In it, ten departments have been given at the tehsil level. He said that in the new system, there will be no ward, district council or municipal corporation.
Now parties or independent panels will participate in the first phase. Only 9 people will be elected in the first phase under the adult voting election. Zahid Islam said that the Governor of Punjab can remove the ambiguity found in the new law. He emphasized that till today it is not clear that anyone will be able to contest the election on a party symbol and this ambiguity has been kept to create confusion. Addressing the seminar, Salman Abid, Executive Director of the NGO Idea Think Tank, said that the C Under Article 10 of the OD, district government elections should be held on a party basis.
The new law has negated the word district government. Most parties, including the People’s Party, want direct elections. He clarified that indirect elections to the union council are illegal.
First, it should be decided whether the province should be run by the local government, the provincial government or the bureaucracy. At present, all authorities, including the elimination of encroachments and solid waste, are with the provincial government, which is a parallel structure. Salman Abid said that the election of the chairman and vice-chairman is conducted on a market basis.
The election of the mayor should be direct. Punjab has not held local government elections for ten years. He demanded that there are numerous shortcomings in the current local government. The term of the federal, provincial and district governments should be the same. If local government is to be strengthened, constitutional amendments will have to be made and all political parties should be removed from the parallel structure under Article 140A. Strengthen district governments, Salman Abid further said that earlier local government elections were conducted by local authorities, which are now conducted by the Election Commission. If the system is run through bureaucracy, the local government system will not deliver.
Therefore, to run local government in Pakistan, we will have to follow the system that is running in the world. Senior leader of the People’s Party Faisal Mir said that with the permission of the party leadership, the new Local Government Bill will be challenged in court.
President of the People’s Party Gujranwala Division Asif Bashir Bhagat said that this is a law based on bad intentions, which will weaken political parties, so a meeting of the Punjab Executive should be called immediately on it. Addressing the seminar, Amin Zaki, Iqbal Khan, Khalid Gul, Hamidullah Khan, Tariq Rafique Chaudhry, Imran Khokhar Advocate and others said that local government elections are not possible without an independent, impartial and strong Election Commission.
