ISLAMABAD – For years, Pakistan waited for Local Bodies Elections, and wait is finally ending. Election Commission of Pakistan stepped forward with a long-anticipated announcement: Islamabad will choose its local government on February 15, 2026.
In an explosive development, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) officially decreed that Islamabad residents will cast their votes on February 15, 2026, in the long-awaited local government elections. Voting will run strictly from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 pm.
The countdown starts with public notices calling for nomination papers to be issued by returning officers on December 19, 2025. Aspiring candidates will have just a five-day window December 22 to December 27 to enter the race. The squeeze doesn’t end there: ECP will scrutinize every application from December 30 to January 3, 2026.
But the drama intensifies as aggrieved candidates will have only January 5–8 to file appeals, and controversial cases will be settled in tribunal hearings between January 9–13.
Tension peaks on February 15, 2026, as Islamabad heads to the polls. Ballots cast, the results will be painstakingly tallied from February 16 to February 19, marking the end of a political saga months in the making.
Only a few months ago, electoral watchdog announced plans to hold local government elections in Punjab during the final week of December 2025. Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja calling the absence of LG polls in the country’s most populous province a national embarrassment for successive governments and the commission itself.
