Islamabad: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced the schedule for the much-anticipated local government elections in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), setting polling for February 15, 2026. This announcement marks the fourth attempt by the ECP to organize these elections, which have been delayed for over four years.

Local government elections in ICT were initially due in 2021, following the completion of the previous local governments’ term on February 21 of that year. Since then, the ECP has struggled to hold elections, with schedules previously released on June 22, 2022, October 20, 2022, and August 8, 2024.

Complicating matters further, the ECP has conducted the delimitation of union councils five times since 2021. These repeated adjustments were made necessary by ongoing legislative and administrative changes, which also resulted in the number of union councils being increased on three occasions since the last local governments’ term ended.

The inability to hold elections despite multiple schedules is attributed to court injunctions and legislative amendments. These factors have caused significant delays, contradicting Section 219(4) of the Election Act, 2017, which mandates the ECP to conduct local government elections within 120 days of the end of the previous local governments’ term.