The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has cancelled the Local Government Elections (LGEs) in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), following recent changes introduced in the ICT LG structure through a presidential ordinance.

According to an official notification issued on January 16, 2026, the ECP recalled the election programme issued on December 9, 2025 in light of the promulgation of the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance, 2026. The ordinance, issued by the federal government on January 9, 2026, altered the structure of local governments and the mode of conducting local government elections in the federal capital.

Read more on how Local Government system has evolved in ICT since 1970

This is the fourth time when the local government elections have been cancelled after the announcement of schedule in the federal capital. The ECP first issued a schedule for LG elections in Islamabad on June 22, 2022, followed by a second on October 20, 2022, and a third on August 8, 2024.

Since 2021, the Commission has carried out delimitation of union councils five times. These repeated exercises were required due to continuous legislative and administrative changes. The number of union councils has been revised upward three times since the expiry of the previous local governments. The commission will carry the delimitation as per the new ordinance

Read FAFEN story on extent of the Union Councils established for Islamabad Local Government