Cabinet approves three-council, three-mayor LG system for Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Wednesday approved a new local government system for Islamabad, under which the federal capital will be divided into three councils, each headed by its own mayor.

Under the proposed framework, each council will comprise 21 members, with representation for general councillors as well as women and minorities.

Sources said that the Islamabad Local Government Bill will be presented before the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior on Thursday for consideration and approval. If cleared by the committee, the bill will be tabled before the Senate and National Assembly for passage.

The proposed system is aimed at restructuring local governance in the federal capital and establishing elected councils to deal with municipal and local-level affairs.

The creation of three councils follows amendments introduced earlier this year to the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, which replaced the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad model with three town corporations.

Islamabad has three National Assembly constituencies, and the earlier ordinance provided for the new town corporations to broadly correspond with those constituencies.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had withdrawn the previously announced schedule for Islamabad’s local government elections in January after the government changed the structure of the local government system and the mode of elections through an ordinance.

The change brought the election process back to the legislative stage, with the ECP subsequently seeking details required to undertake fresh delimitation.

In June, the ECP directed the Ministry of Interior and Islamabad chief commissioner to provide pending documents, including notifications defining the limits of the town corporations, the number of union councils in each corporation and authenticated, updated maps required for delimitation.

By July, the ECP was still awaiting key notifications and legislation needed to proceed with the local government election process.

The commission had sought the notification of town corporation limits and maps, the number of union councils in each corporation and the relevant legislation.

The proposed new system has also faced political opposition. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had announced to oppose the federal government’s bill in the parliamentary standing committee, according to sources.

Talks between the PPP and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf were also under way over a possible joint opposition to the legislation.

The bill will therefore have to clear the parliamentary process before the new local government structure can formally take effect.

Once the legislation is approved and the required notifications and delimitation process are completed, the ECP will be in a position to move towards announcing a fresh schedule for local government elections in Islamabad.

The capital has faced repeated delays in holding local government elections because of changes to the legal and administrative framework. The latest cabinet approval is the latest step towards replacing the existing arrangement with a three-council system.