Local institutions serve as one of the key building blocks of any democratic order, providing citizens and communities with a platform to voice their concerns and resolve local-level issues. Pakistan’s experience with local democracy has been inconsistent and fragmented. It is an unfortunate reality that, for most of the country’s history, owing to elite resistance to devolution, these institutions have remained stagnant. The laws promulgated largely served as declarations, failing to fully translate de jure commitments into de facto reality.
In Punjab, the debate surrounding local governments resurfaced after the provincial government introduced the Punjab Local Government Act 2025 (PLGA 2025), the fourth such law in over a decade, to restructure local governments in the province. Before this, the local government laws of 2022, 2019, and 2013 had each sought, in their own ways, to redefine the structure and functioning of local bodies across Punjab.
The decision to enact PLGA 2025 came amid the Election Commission of Pakistan’s announcement that the long-delayed local government elections in the province were to be held in the last week of December 2025, in accordance with the Local Government law of 2022.
Days after the promulgation of PLGA 2025, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led opposition in the Punjab Assembly filed a petition in the Lahore High Court on grounds that the new law undermines the very essence of democracy in the country. The petition cited various sections from the law, including sections 15, 25, 55, 56, and 57, which it contended are directly in contrast to the Constitution of Pakistan.
Sections 55, 56, and 57, mentioned in Chapter XIV of the law, elaborate on the methods of conducting local elections. These provisions provide for a non-party-based and indirect mode of election for the Union Council (UC) Chairpersons and Vice-Chairpersons. The petition states that this indirect mode of elections weakens elected bodies, undermining Article 140-A of the Constitution. Article 140-A, introduced through the 18th Constitutional Amendment, provides for the establishment of elected local governments and the devolution of political, administrative, and financial authority to them by the provinces. Similarly, the non-party nature of the elections restricts political choice for the people.
This newly enacted PLGA 2025 departs from the approach of its predecessors, the Local Government Acts of 2022, 2019, and 2013, in multiple ways. Under PLGA 2025, a Union Council, the basic tier of governance, comprises nine general members and four members in reserved seats, including a woman member.
For democracy to take root in the country, policymakers must come to grips with the fact that effective and accountable governance can only be ensured when ordinary citizens, not ruling elites, are empowered to make decisions that affect their daily lives
The general members will not be affiliated with any political party. Voters in a UC are to cast votes for general members, and the nine candidates receiving the highest number of votes are elected. Once elected, these members will then join a political party within thirty days. They will also then vote for the election of members on reserved seats as well as for the Chairpersons and Vice-Chairpersons.
The earlier laws allowed citizens to directly elect their local Chairpersons and Vice-Chairpersons through political parties. They also established a multi-tiered system, from Union Councils up to District Councils. For instance, in the case of Lahore, the largest urban centre in the province, the earlier local government laws treated the entire city as one Metropolitan Corporation. The new PLGA 2025, however, has split Lahore into several Town Corporations, removing the District Council altogether.
The structure of District-level Authorities, first introduced under the Punjab Local Government Act of 2013 to devolve services such as education and health from the provincial to the district level, has also undergone notable changes. The Mayor, who serves as the head of the local government in a district, as well as the head of the district authorities, will no longer serve for a fixed term under PLGA 2025. The position will rotate every four months, starting with the head of the largest local government in the district and then passing to the next in size, and so on.
With these changes in place and PTI’s decision to challenge the law in court, the question now is: will Punjab finally witness its long-delayed local government elections, or will the ongoing legal tussle between PTI and the ruling party once again deprive citizens of their right to local representation and participation in governance?
One of the key reasons why functioning local governments have remained a distant mirage in Pakistan is that the Constitution does not specify a structure or framework for them, unlike the federal and provincial governments. Even though Article 140-A requires provinces to establish and maintain local governments, their structure and functioning have been left to the provinces to determine through their own local laws. This is where the problem arises: the provinces witness a recurring pattern where ruling parties repeatedly enact their own local government laws, while opposition parties either challenge them or abolish them once in power.
The PTI-led government, which has now challenged the PLGA 2025, had itself dissolved the local bodies operating under the Punjab Local Government Act 2013 after coming to power in 2018. It introduced the Punjab Local Government Act 2019, and under Section 3 of the said law, dissolved the existing local governments and appointed administrators in their place. It was only after the Supreme Court ordered the restoration of the dissolved bodies in 2021 that they were able to complete their remaining term. The province has not held local government elections since then.
For democracy to take root in the country, policymakers must come to grips with the fact that effective and accountable governance can only be ensured when ordinary citizens, not ruling elites, are empowered to make decisions that affect their daily lives. It must be acknowledged that, despite Pakistan’s feudal and patronage-based political culture, local governments still offer a rare opportunity for citizens at the grassroots to enter and influence mainstream politics.
A common argument used to justify their continued dysfunctionality is that local representatives lack the capacity to govern effectively, and hence state-appointed administrators, with their training and bureaucratic experience, are in a better position to keep the system operational and intact, an argument that overlooks the fact that capacity is built through practice and not exclusion.