At a meeting with the Punjab administration, whose team was headed by the chief secretary, the Election Commission of Pakistan commanded that the remaining obstacles be removed so that the province could go ahead with local government elections. Rules have to be notified by the new Local Government Act, and marked maps have to be provided to the ECP, so that it may carry out its constitutional mandate to conduct local government polls.
A somewhat paradoxical situation prevails, as for once it is Punjab that lags behind the other provinces in holding local body polls to the extent that it has conducted polls when other provinces have not, but this time around, Punjab is the only province which has not conducted any polls. Sindh has postponed its remaining polls because of the floods, but though the southern part of the province is affected, there does not seem any reason why polls should not be conducted in northern districts, where flood damage, while considerable, has not been as great.
These polls, which would not elect anybody beyond a district council, or metropolitan corporation, have a particular political significance at this juncture. Both the PML(N) and the PTI claim to have a pulse on the province. Polls have been formally partyless until the last, when the usual trend of the government winning through was maintained. The PML(N) in particular has used local bodies as a sort of grassroots for the party. One result has been that while the PPP was always competitive at the national or provincial level, it was hapless at the local level. The Punjab local body polls would therefore be a double test: first, of which party would perform best, and to what extent could the PTI extend on its showing in the last election, in which it was a loser, but an honourable one. Another interesting factor will be Ch Pervez Elahi. Though Chief Minister and thus expected to deliver for the PTI, as he can well do, having remained twice Chairman of the Gujrat District Council, and having held the Local Government portfolio as a member of the Punjab Cabinet, he will look out to the main chance and whatever advantage he can gain for his own PML(Q) faction.
