Islamabad High Court suspends local government election schedule in capital

Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court has issued a stay order on the schedule for local government elections in the federal capital, following which the Election Commission of Pakistan has suspended the electoral process until the next hearing. The polling scheduled for December 20 under the revised programme has also been halted.

According to Geo News, Justice Umar Majeed Malik, announcing the reserved verdict, issued a stay against the Election Commission’s notification of October 21. The court has issued notice to the commission and sought its reply by November 26.

The petition was filed by Amjad Ali. According to Geo News, it argued that new delimitations were carried out in 2024 and an electoral schedule was issued afterwards, but a new Local Government Ordinance came in 2026. The petitioner’s counsel said that after the ordinance expired, the schedule was issued without restoring the previous delimitations.

In a notification issued on Friday, the Election Commission said the decision was taken in compliance with its order of November 12. The suspension applies to the electoral process started under both the original schedule of October 21 and the revision made on November 5. The notification did not give a new date for the elections.

The last elected local government system in Islamabad expired in February 2021, and new elections have not yet been held due to various legal and administrative reasons.