ISLAMABAD: PTI has decided to contest the upcoming local government elections in the capital, with the party’s regional leadership directing district and town organisations to file nomination papers in every ward across all union councils between November 2 and 6, it emerged on Wednesday.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has scheduled the polls for December 20.

On Wednesday, PTI’s Islamabad wing President Amir Mughal, speaking to Dawn, said, “We have decided to contest elections on all 125 seats of union councils”.

Mughal said that PTI visited areas across the city to get input from the people, claiming that “over 95 per cent of people suggested contesting the elections.”

“They were of the view that the government can not do more than what it is already doing with the party. So we will contest without going into what kind of election symbols are allotted to our candidates,” he said.

Replying to a question, Mughal said the commission had already postponed the election four times and feared further postponement again due to PTI’s popularity.

Meanwhile, in a press release issued on Wednesday, the party said Mughal, Shoaib Shaheen and Malik Aamir had held more than 25 meetings across the three electoral constituencies over the past three days.

It said that the decision to participate in the elections was taken after a series of online consultations with around 400 office-bearers representing the regional and district organisations, eight town organisations, all 125 union councils, and various party wings and committees, including the labour wing, Insaf Students Federation, youth, traders and women’s wings, the advisory council, working committee and core committee.

According to the statement, 95pc of the office-bearers consulted supported contesting the elections.

The party said it would field candidates committed to public service and loyal to the political ideology of PTI founder Imran Khan. It said preference would be given to dedicated, principled and determined workers who had remained at the forefront of the party’s political struggle.

Noting previous delays, the party vowed to press for the elections to be held as per schedule.

Criticising the existing local government law, PTI said the government intended to hold elections under a flawed system that left elected representatives without meaningful powers, even over basic municipal services such as street cleaning, while concentrating authority in the bureaucracy.

The statement also opposed the reported move to replace the direct election of chairmen and vice chairmen with an indirect electoral process through councillors. PTI described the proposed arrangement as a potential means of pre-poll rigging, alleging that councillors could be intimidated or pressured into changing their votes.

The party also questioned the proposed announcement of election results four days after polling, claiming that the delay could facilitate manipulation.

Claiming that Islamabad had traditionally been a PTI stronghold, the party expressed confidence it would secure a sweeping victory in the local government elections, similar to the result it claimed to have achieved in the 2024 General Elections.

The term of the local government in the capital expired in February 2021, and the ECP was supposed to conduct elections within 120 days.

However, over the years, the federal government and the ECP spent their time carrying out delimitation and announcing election schedules, only to postpone the polls later.

In the schedule announced last week, October 30 was set for the issuance of a public notice inviting nomination papers. After the completion of various stages of the electoral process, polling will be held on Dec 20.

The ECP has reserved four days, from Dec 21 to 24, for the consolidation of results.