IHC puts Islamabad local government elections on hold over delimitation dispute

The legal dispute over the existing constituency delimitation in Islamabad has put the federal capital’s local government elections on hold, with the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspending the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) latest election schedule until November 26.

The commission had scheduled the polls for December 20. But petitioner Chaudhry Amjad Ali argued that the election process could not move forward while questions remained over the legal status of the constituency delimitation.

The dispute centres on changes to Islamabad’s local government framework through the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Ordinance, 2026, which followed the Local Government Act, 2015.

Under the 2015 law, the local government system comprised one Metropolitan Corporation and 125 union councils, with each council divided into nine wards. The ECP began delimitation under this arrangement in December 2024 and issued an election programme on December 26, 2025, but later withdrew it.

Amjad challenged the commission’s October 21 short order and the election schedule issued the same day, arguing that the legal changes had affected the basis on which the polls were being organised.

Hearing the petition on Friday, a single-member bench headed by Justice Umair Majeed Malik ordered that the ECP’s October 21 decision and the revised election schedule remain suspended until the next hearing.

The court also issued notices to the respondents and sought their reports and paragraph-wise comments by November 26.

The petitioner’s lawyers — Barrister Qazi Adil Aziz, Malik Talha and Muhammad Yaseen Iqbal — maintained that the Constitution required the ECP to conduct local government elections honestly, fairly and in accordance with the law. They cited Articles 140-A(2), 218(3) and 219(d) in support of their argument.