PTI to contest Islamabad local body elections on December 20

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Islamabad chapter has decided to contest the capital's local government elections, directing its district and town organisations to file nomination papers in every ward of every union council between November 2 and 6.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by the party's Islamabad president, Aamir Mughal, according to a statement issued afterwards and reported by ARY News. Dawn reported that Mughal said the party would contest "all 125 seats of union councils". The Election Commission of Pakistan has fixed December 20 as polling day.

ARY News reported that Mughal, Shoaib Shaheen and Malik Aamir held more than 25 meetings across the three constituencies over three days. The party said the decision followed consultations with 400 office-bearers, 95 per cent of whom supported taking part, and that online consultations had also been completed with office-bearers of regional, district, town and union council organisations as well as all party wings.

According to the party, priority for tickets will go to workers who remained at the forefront of the campaign for Imran Khan's release and who backed his political ideology, with candidates chosen from among those it described as committed to public service.

PTI Islamabad alleged that the government and the Election Commission had issued a schedule for local government elections four times and then avoided holding them, and said it would force a fifth withdrawal from the process. It said it would defeat the government despite what it called a flawed local government law.

The party criticised the law for leaving elected representatives without the authority even to ensure streets and neighbourhoods were cleaned, claiming that the real powers of local representatives remained with the bureaucracy. It also opposed the end of direct elections for union council chairmen and vice chairmen, saying election through councillors amounted to pre-poll rigging because councillors could be pressured or threatened into changing their decisions.

PTI Islamabad further questioned the announcement of results four days after polling, alleging the delay was intended to facilitate rigging. The party said it expected to sweep the elections, as it claims to have done in the 2024 general elections.