The Election Commission of Pakistan has ordered local government elections in Islamabad to proceed on December 20, 2026, under the 2015 local government law, following years of legal delays and an expired presidential ordinance.
Election Commission Orders December 20 Polls Under 2015 Act
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) directed its office to immediately prepare and issue the election programme for the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). A five-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja issued the short order during a hearing examining repeated postponements of local government polls in the federal capital.
Under the released election schedule, polling will take place on December 20 from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Public notices inviting nomination papers are set for October 30, with candidate submissions running from November 2 to November 6.
Delays and Lapsed Ordinances Precede the ECP Order
Islamabad has operated without an elected local government for over five years. The capital’s sole local government elections occurred in 2015 across 50 union councils, won by the PML-N with Sheikh Anser Aziz serving as the first mayor. That term expired in February 2021.
Although the Elections Act requires fresh polls within 120 days of a term’s expiration, repeated legal overhauls stalled the process. ECP Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal Malik told the commission that delimitation had been carried out six times and election schedules announced four times, only to be repeatedly cancelled.
Initially planned for 50 union councils, the count of union councils grew to 101. The count subsequently reached 125.
An election schedule had previously been set for October 9 before polling originally planned for February faced postponement.
The most recent disruption followed the promulgation of the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance in January 2026, which replaced the Metropolitan Corporation structure with three town corporations.
That ordinance subsequently lapsed on September 6. No replacement legislation was enacted by the federal government, despite the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Interior having approved the ICT Local Government Bill 2026 on September 3.
Disputes Over Legal Framework and Delimitation Work
During the proceedings, ECP officials noted that two reminder letters were sent to the interior ministry regarding the lapsed ordinance, and claimed the Ministry of Law refused to vet the rules. The interior secretary acknowledged the factual background presented by the commission but argued that proceeding under the 2015 law would require discarding all delimitation work completed thus far.
Chief Election Commissioner Raja pushed back against that assessment, maintaining that utilizing the existing legislation would not affect the delimitation of constituencies that had already been published on October 14.
It appears that the government does not wish to hold local government elections in Islamabad.
Sikandar Sultan Raja, Chief Election Commissioner
Election Timeline Leading to December Polling
With the legal framework settled on the 2015 Act, the ECP published specific procedural dates for candidates and administrative bodies leading up to the December vote.
| Electoral Stage | Dates |
|---|---|
| Public notice for nomination papers | October 30 |
| Candidate nomination submissions | November 2 to November 6 |
| Publication of nominated candidates | November 7 |
| Scrutiny of nomination papers | November 9 to November 13 |
| Appeals against returning officers’ decisions | November 14 to November 18 |
| Decisions on appeals | November 19 to November 23 |
| Revised list of candidates publication | November 24 |
| Withdrawal of nomination papers | November 25 |
| Allotment of election symbols | November 26 |
| Polling day | December 20 |
| Consolidation of election results | December 21 to December 24 |
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