• Election Commission decides to review LG laws in Punjab, KP and Sindh and suggest necessary changes to LG Act, 1990
• Committee formed to draft proposed tweaks to facilitate polls

MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Ka­shmir (AJK) Election Com­­­mission has decided to propose necessary am­­e­ndments to the existing Local Government Act, 1990, to pave the way for holding local government (LG) elections in the re­­gion.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commis­s­i­o­­ner retired Justice Ghu­lam Mustafa Mughal on the proposed LG elections for 2026-27 on Tuesday.

The commission deci­ded to send the proposed amendments to the government after examining the relevant laws and electoral arrangements in Pun­­­­jab, Khyber Pakhtun­khwa and Sindh, according to a statement issued after the meeting.

A committee was constituted to prepare the prop­o­sed amendments. The com­mission also decided to prepare an estimate of the funds required to hold the elections and submit it to the government.

The me­­eting was told that conducting LG elections was a constitutional responsibility of the Election Commis­sion and that it was ready to discharge the responsibility.

The last local government elections were held in three phases in late 2022 — in Muzaffarabad division on Nov 27, Poonch division on Dec 3 and Mirpur division on Dec 8 — after a gap of 31 years. Before that, the local government elections had been held in 1991.

Subsequent polls, due in 1995, were not held, and su­­­­ccessive governments ran local government institut­i­­ons through administrat­o­­­­rs, usually government of­­­­ficials or political workers.

Until 2018, the LG elections were conducted by a separate election commission under the administrative control of the government.

However, following the 13th Amendment, pas­sed in June that year, the responsibility was assig­ned to the AJK EC.

The 2022 LG elections were subsequently conducted by the commission under the amended Local Government Act, 1990, after the necessary legal changes were made to facilitate the long-delayed polls.

The elections restored elected local bodies after decades of administration through nominated or appointed officials.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2026