ISLAMABAD: The local government elections in Islamabad are once again set to be postponed as President Asif Ali Zardari has approved an ordinance which introduces several amendments to the Local Government Act 2015. Besides replacing the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) with three town corporations, the ordinance gives the government-appointed administrator more powers and an indefinite tenure. The new ordinance was introduced at a time when the local governments in Islamabad were scheduled to be held on February 15. Thousands of people from all 125 Union Councils had already submitted nomination papers for the elections. However, sources said, chances are now slim that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will assert holding the elections as scheduled. Meanwhile, the ordinance also stated that in the absence of local government, the administrator can hold office until the new local government elections are held - replacing the bar that the administrator’s tenure shall not exceed six months. The ordinance also empowered the administrator to levy tax, fee, rate, rent, toll charge or surcharge. Amendments to LG Act replaces MCI with three town corporations, gives administrator more powers and indefinite tenure The federal cabinet recently approved 14 amendments to the Act, including a change in the name of the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad, replacing it with town corporations. According to the ordinance, there will be three town corporations in Islamabad and each town corporation will comprise, as far as practicable, the territorial limits of a National Assembly (NA) constituency within the capital. Islamabad has three NA seats. It is relevant to note here that when the election schedule was announced by the ECP, the local chapter of the PTI had claimed that the government fearing defeat would opt for an escape route and would not conduct the elections in February. However, PML-N former deputy mayor Syed Zeeshan Ali Naqvi had rejected the claim of the PTI, stating that the ordinance was brought for a better local government system in Islamabad. “It is habit of PTI to make false claim. We will defeat them in local government elections whenever held as we did in 2015-16. Actually, through this ordinance, we want to have three separate town corporations and three mayors for better service delivery,” he said and added that his party wanted a vibrant local government system in Islamabad. “You know the previous election was held on the basis of weak local government Act that was why the local government representatives could not live up to the expectations of the their constituents. Local government representatives in their tenure remained busy in removing bureaucratic hurdles,” he said. “Now, when elections will be held people of Islamabad will have an effective local government setup,” he said. Whenever elections are held, according to the new ordinance, each town corporation will have a mayor and two deputy mayors, four women, one peasant/worker, one trader/ businessman, one youth member and one non-Muslim member. The term of the last local government expired in February 2021, and since then elections have been delayed under various pretexts. As a result, around 2.5 million residents of Islamabad continue to face issues ranging from water shortages to unpaved streets etc. Earlier, the ECP conducted delimitations of constituencies multiple times and issued election schedules on several occasions, only to be cancelled later. A few years ago, the elections were even cancelled a day before polling. It is pertinent to note that when the local government’s term ended in 2021, the PTI was in power and elections were supposed to be held within 120 days. However, the PTI government did not take serious steps to conduct the polls. When the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) came into power, it too delayed the elections. During the PDM’s tenure, elections were set to be held in 50 union councils (UCs), but the government argued that the number should be increased to 101 UCs, leading to further delays. Later, when arrangements were finalised to hold elections in 101 UCs, the PDM government proposed increasing the number of UCs from 101 to 125. Elections were then scheduled for 125 UCs, but in September last year the government decided to increase the number of general seats in the UCs. Last month, the ECP decided to hold elections for 125 UCs, but the government has now introduced fresh amendments to the local government law. Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2026