Local Government Elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan: An Assessment of Challenges and Prospects (2012-2015)

Abstract

The 18th Amendment in the 1973 Constitution mandated provinces to institute a local government system. However, it has provided fewer details on what kind of administrative and financial powers would be conferred to the local governments (LG). The Local Government Act 2012 was passed by the Awami National Party (ANP) led coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). This act was replaced with the Local Government Act 2013 by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) led coalition government. This paper investigates the reasons behind the failure of the PTI government to conduct an in-time LG election. The findings show that the deferral is accounted for by the revision and delimitation of local government constituencies, which could not be done due to the government-opposition contentions for securing political interests and edge over the voting majority areas of candidates of the rival parties. Another point to ponder is the PTI government’s failure to keep the promise of conducting voting through a biometric system, which could minimise the problem of rigging and mismanagement. An attempt has also been made to analyse the complex relationship between the PTI-led government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), fraught with a mutual blame game, to cover up their inabilities.