# Islamabad local government elections: ECP sets 20 December, but a new bill may delay them a sixth time Source: Searchable (https://searchable.pk/news/politics/islamabad-local-government-elections-ecp-orders-a-fresh-schedule-under-the-2015) Type: News article Author: Searchable Editorial Published: 21 Oct 2026 Updated: 23 Oct 2026 Retrieved: 25 Oct 2026 > The ECP has fixed 20 December and nominations for 2 to 6 November, but a bill creating three town corporations would need new boundaries first. Here is the timeline. ## Update, 23 October: government signals another delay to the 20 December polls **The federal government has signalled that Islamabad's local government elections may be postponed again**, a day after the Election Commission fixed **20 December 2026** as polling day, [Geo News reported](https://www.geo.tv/latest/687916-govt-signals-another-delay-in-islamabad-lg-polls-despite-ecp-schedule), citing The News. On Thursday the government laid in the National Assembly the interior committee's report on the **ICT Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2026**, presented by PML-N MNA Anjum Aqeel Khan. The bill would split Islamabad into **three town corporations, each with a mayor and two deputy mayors**, and have the federal government redraw union council boundaries by population. New boundaries would mean fresh delimitation, which the report says cannot be finished before 20 December. The government is expected to try to pass the bill before the current NA session ends on 27 October. | Islamabad LG polls | Date | |---|---| | ECP polling day | 20 December 2026 | | Nomination papers | 2 to 6 November 2026 | | NA session ends (bill expected) | 27 October 2026 | | ECP hearing on Punjab and cantonment LG polls | 28 October 2026 | The ECP has already notified 49 district returning, returning and assistant returning officers. If the bill passes and the schedule is withdrawn, it would be the **sixth delay** since the last council's term ended in February 2021. **For candidates:** the nomination window of 2 to 6 November stands unless the ECP withdraws it, so keep papers ready. --- The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday 21 October 2026 ordered its office to prepare and issue a fresh schedule for local government elections in Islamabad Capital Territory, and to hold them under the ICT Local Government Act, 2015, which it says is still in force. Dawn reported the order, issued by a five-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja. No polling date has been announced yet. ## Why the ECP stepped in Islamabad has had no elected local government since February 2021, when the term of the council elected in 2015 ended. The law requires new elections within 120 days of a term ending. Since then, the ECP's special secretary Zafar Iqbal Malik told the hearing, delimitation has been carried out six times and election schedules issued four times, and each attempt was overtaken by a change in the law: - **December 2022:** polls set for 31 December on 101 union councils were postponed after the government raised the number to 125 days before voting, despite an Islamabad High Court order to proceed. - **February 2026:** a schedule for 15 February on 125 union councils was withdrawn after an ordinance in January replaced the Metropolitan Corporation with three town corporations, which needed new delimitation. - **October 2026:** the latest schedule was for 9 October. The ordinance lapsed on 6 September before Parliament made it law, and final delimitations were published on 14 October. Malik said the ECP had sent two reminders to the Interior Ministry about the lapse, and that the Law Ministry had declined to vet the draft election rules. ## What was said Interior Secretary Ahmed Raza Sarwar told the commission that "if we revert to the 2015 law, everything will have to be scrapped". Raja replied that the delimitations would not be affected. "It appears that the government does not wish to hold local government elections in Islamabad," he said, adding that the commission was issuing the order "compelled by the circumstances". The order cites Article 140A of the Constitution, which requires elected local governments, and section 219 of the Elections Act, 2017. ## The bigger plan for Islamabad The order lands while a committee headed by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has recommended giving Islamabad province-like powers, with a 27-member Islamabad Assembly (21 elected seats, seven from each of the city's three National Assembly constituencies, five reserved for women and one for minorities) and a chief minister or mayor at its head. That proposal needs legislation; the ECP's order deals only with the local elections due under the current law. ## What it means for residents Union council chairmen and councillors handle birth, death and marriage registration, local sanitation and small development schemes. Without them these run through the district administration. Once the ECP publishes the programme, check your union council and polling station on the ECP's SMS service 8300 by sending your CNIC number. Keep your documents ready: our [NADRA fee calculator](/tools/government/nadra-fee-calculator) shows the cost of renewing a CNIC before polling day. ## Frequently asked questions **When are Islamabad local government elections?** No date yet. On 21 October 2026 the ECP ordered its office to issue a fresh election programme under the ICT Local Government Act, 2015; the date will be in that schedule. ## Sources - Govt signals another delay in Islamabad LG polls despite ECP schedule (23 Oct 2026) (Geo News): https://www.geo.tv/latest/687916-govt-signals-another-delay-in-islamabad-lg-polls-despite-ecp-schedule - ECP orders fresh schedule for Islamabad local government polls (Dawn): https://www.dawn.com/news/2038743/ecp-orders-fresh-schedule-for-islamabad-local-government-polls How to cite: "Islamabad local government elections: ECP sets 20 December, but a new bill may delay them a sixth time", Searchable, 23 Oct 2026, https://searchable.pk/news/politics/islamabad-local-government-elections-ecp-orders-a-fresh-schedule-under-the-2015