Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja has accused the federal government of attempting to sabotage Islamabad’s local government elections after instructions were reportedly issued against assigning teachers to polling duties. The elections are scheduled for December 20, and the CEC has made it clear that they must proceed. There is little to be gained from another confrontation over electoral arrangements, especially when the capital has been waiting since February 2021 for its citizens to elect a municipal government. Surely, after nearly six years, Islamabad deserves something more than another date on the Election Commission’s calendar.
Tellingly, constituency boundaries have been redrawn as many as six times, while four election schedules have come and gone. Changes to the governing law, administrative requirements and disagreements over the structure of local institutions have repeatedly complicated the process. Some of these questions are legitimate. A rapidly expanding capital needs a municipal framework capable of serving its population, including settlements that have grown far beyond the original city plan. Yet arrangements intended to improve representation should eventually produce representatives.
The problem becomes all the more pronounced once one ventures beyond Islamabad’s carefully maintained avenues. The Capital Development Authority and the district administration carry considerable responsibilities, although neither offers the same relationship of electoral accountability that a functioning local council can provide. Residents struggling with broken roads, overflowing drains or unreliable water supplies deserve representatives who must answer directly to them. To add to the tragedy, this predicament is not confined to the federal capital. Punjab has spent years trying to settle on a workable local government structure. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s recent emergency arrangements have further complicated the electoral future of its local institutions. Elsewhere, elected councils have often found themselves operating with limited financial autonomy and considerable dependence on provincial administrations.
There may be sound administrative reasons for maintaining provincial oversight of major infrastructure, policing and development priorities. Nevertheless, local councils cannot be expected to manage neighbourhood services without dependable revenues, professional staff and clearly assigned responsibilities. Otherwise, elections may produce officeholders who spend their terms petitioning departments for the authority to repair a streetlight. The federal government’s broader proposals for Islamabad’s administrative reorganisation offer an opportunity to address some of these longstanding weaknesses.
They deserve careful consideration, particularly the question of how responsibilities and resources should be distributed. Meanwhile, the Election Commission and the authorities concerned must settle the immediate staffing arrangements and ensure that preparations for the long-awaited polls proceed without further interruption.
Our democratic institutions have spent considerable energy debating the distribution of power at the national and provincial levels. We can celebrate the historic 18th Amendment all we want, but its promise of devolution rings rather hollow when the third tier of government is left waiting in the wings. A little more attention to the street, neighbourhood and union council would serve the public equally well. *
