The Punjab government has consolidated data on union councils throughout the province in preparation for the long-delayed local government elections, officially declaring a total of 6,600 union councils across 41 districts under the Punjab Local Government Act 2025.
Local Government Minister Zeeshan Rafique detailed that the province is divided into 2,496 urban and 4,104 rural union councils, with the updated information uploaded to a centralized system. The population for this exercise has been set at 123,320,314.
Among the districts, Lahore has 433 urban union councils serving a population of 11,750,082. Faisalabad follows with 443 union councils and 9,075,819 residents. Other major districts include Multan with 266 councils and 5,316,839 people; Rahim Yar Khan with 295 councils serving 5,564,703; Gujranwala with 226 councils and 4,809,409 population; Sialkot with 240 councils and 4,422,913 residents; and Rawalpindi with 220 councils representing 4,214,619 people.
Rafique confirmed that preparations are underway to conduct local government elections either in December 2026 or January 2027.
This announcement marks a significant step forward after years of delays caused by repeated amendments to Punjab’s local government legislation and administrative frameworks. The previous elected local governments were constituted under the Punjab Local Government Act 2013, following phased elections in 2015 and 2016. Their initial meetings took place in January 2017, with a five-year term concluding on December 31, 2021.
However, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has noted that these local governments were dissolved prematurely in May 2019 after the enactment of the Punjab Local Government Act 2019, which replaced the 2013 law. The Supreme Court later ruled this dissolution unlawful in March 2021, ordering the restoration of the previous local governments for the remainder of their term. They were reinstated in October 2021.
Following the expiration of their term, Punjab experienced a series of legislative changes without holding fresh elections. The Punjab Local Government Ordinance 2021 was promulgated in December 2021 but expired in June 2022. Subsequently, new laws were enacted in June and November 2022. The ECP began preparations for elections under the 2022 law, issuing a delimitation schedule in December 2021 and completing initial delimitation by March 2022.
Despite announcing the first phase of elections for June 9, 2022, the election schedule was suspended by the Lahore High Court’s Multan bench. Further legislative changes and delays in data provision stalled the process. The ECP urged the Punjab government to finalize legislation in 2024 and early 2025.
In its 2025 quarterly newsletter, the ECP highlighted that frequent changes in electoral laws forced repeated restarts of election preparations. The Punjab government assured the commission of its commitment to support timely elections and was working on a new local government law.
In a significant development in October 2025, the ECP announced that local government elections would be held in Punjab in the last week of December under the 2022 law and ordered the delimitation process to begin. However, the Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Local Government Act 2025 shortly thereafter, repealing the 2022 Act. This compelled the ECP to withdraw its delimitation schedule and restart under the new legal framework.
The ECP emphasized its legal obligation to conduct elections under the provincial law and rules. The 2025 Act assigns the ECP responsibility for conducting local government elections, applying the Elections Act 2017 as far as possible. The legislation provides for elections to union councils and other tiers of local government.
Following this, the ECP issued a fresh delimitation schedule under the 2025 Act and the Punjab Local Government (Delimitation of Union Councils) Rules 2026, noting that delimitation is a legal prerequisite for holding elections.
In August 2026, the ECP and Punjab government agreed to hold local government elections between December 15, 2026, and January 15, 2027. The provincial government cited examinations and foggy weather as reasons for this timeframe, while the ECP stressed that elections are a constitutional mandate under Article 140-A. The Punjab government also expressed interest in conducting elections in phases, with the ECP requesting a detailed phased polling plan.
The recent centralization of union council data represents a crucial step in finalizing the electoral map ahead of the ECP’s election process.
Under the 2025 law, each union council will elect nine general members through secret ballot. Reserved-seat members will be chosen indirectly by these general members, while the chairperson and vice-chairperson will be elected by the union council members from among themselves.
This new framework differs significantly from previous systems and has faced legal challenges. Petitions have questioned the role of bureaucracy in local government and the indirect election of union council chairpersons.
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