PESHAWAR, July 19: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has hinted at holding the local government elections in late October or early November after completion of the basic requirements.

In this connection, the provincial Local Government and Rural Development Department has written a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for consultation, preparations and its opinion concerning the upcoming local bodies’ elections, according to officials. The letter was sent by the local government department on Thursday, they said.

When contacted, Provincial Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Department Inayatullah Khan confirmed that the elections could be held in late October and that they had sent a letter to the ECP in this regard. He said that the working group would complete its recommendations concerning reforms in the local government system and the legislation in this regard by the end of July.

He said that the working group would hold meetings on daily basis from July 22 to accelerate work on the reforms. He said that the local government department had already tasked the working group to prepare the feasibility report regarding the village councils.

The minister said that the elections would be held under the new law and not under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Ordinance, 2001 or the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2012.

“We want to do consultation with the ECP for its opinion,” he told Dawn when asked about the purpose of the letter they had sent to the commission. He said that operational preparations for the elections would be discussed in detail during a joint meeting with the ECP officials.

There would be new delimitation of the village councils, which would be the strong unit in new local government system, sources said. They said that the provincial government had accelerated efforts on two sides; the working group would prepare reforms and legislation, and discuss preparation for elections with the ECP from time to time.

An official of the LG&RD told Dawn that the delimitation of village councils would be an extensive exercise to be started after the government directives. “Delimitation of the village councils is a very serious and difficult task to accomplish,” he admitted.

The LG department so far has done delimitation of the union councils prior to different local bodies’ elections in past, while the delimitation of the village councils would be made for the first time.

Minimum time for delimitation of the village councils was 45 days, he said, adding it could take more days because of the new concept.

He said that officials of the Local Government and Rural Development Department, district administration and local council board would be involved in the delimitation process.

In the light of delimitation conducted in the past, he said that once the delimitation was completed the relevant officials would display the lists of different local councils in the respective areas and in the offices of deputy commissioners for public information.

A revised list after the complaints, reservations and suggestions of the local people being heard would be displayed at the same places for public information, he said. Objections and suggestions concerning the revised list of delimitations could be submitted with an appellate authority to be established later.

The delimitation authority will keep liaison with the ECP on behalf of the provincial government, which would submit its final list to the commission after its completion.