Democracy in limbo

Punjab's rulers have once again pressed pause on democracy at the grassroots. The Election Commission of Pakistan's formal withdrawal of the schedule for local government elections confirms what many feared - that the newly enacted Punjab Local Government Act 2025 is less a reform and more a convenient delay. With every change in government comes another law, and with every law, another setback to people's right to representation.

The new legislation has undone months of groundwork the ECP had carried out under the 2022 Act, forcing the commission to scrap the election schedule it had already announced. The Punjab government has now been given four weeks to prepare new delimitation rules - a deadline that seems ambitious on paper but may prove to be just another tactic to buy time. Equally concerning is the ECP's own conduct. The commission, constitutionally bound to ensure regular local elections, has once again failed to institutionalise them as a routine democratic event. Why has the ECP not approached the courts to seek clarity or compel timely polls? Its reluctance raises uncomfortable questions about whether the electoral body, too, has resigned itself to political convenience. The province has not held local government elections since 2015. Every successive government has promised reform but ensured delay - rewriting the law each time to keep authority within provincial hands. The latest postponement, coming at a time when the ruling leadership faces growing discontent in Punjab, appears politically calculated.

The cost of this manipulation is borne by Punjab's 120 million residents. Without elected local representatives, everyday issues remain at the mercy of unelected bureaucrats. Article 140-A of the Constitution clearly mandates the devolution of political, administrative and financial powers to local governments, yet in Punjab - well, in all provinces by and large - this mandate continues to be violated.