Local government elections: New constituencies to be drawn up

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government will draw up new delimitations for constituencies from June ahead of the local government elections scheduled in October. The number of additional union councils carved out in 2001 will be reduced to bring down the number of local representatives which was astronomically high. The other significant change relates to recreating divisions between rural and urban areas. The decision is applicable across all 25 districts of the province. In Torghar district, which is the latest addition, constituencies will be created in the former tribal area after a census has been carried out. Former president Pervez Musharraf had redrawn constituencies before local government elections, erasing the divide between rural and urban areas which led to an increase in the number of union councils. Local government representatives have been divested of administrative powers; they will only be responsible for providing municipal services to residents.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2012.