This article was published in Dawn News on November 08, 2025, at the following link

https://www.dawn.com/news/1953856/lg-constitutional-amendment

SOMETHING extraordinary, if not unprecedented, has happened in the parliamentary history of Pakistan. The Punjab Assembly passed a unanimous resolution on Oct 28, with significant support from the PTI-aligned opposition, proposing that the national parliament amend and expand Article 140-A of the Constitution in order to strengthen the constitutional framework for local governments (LGs) in the country.

Although there had been more than one proposal to amend Article 140-A in the past, these came either from civil society, political parties or individual legislators. This is the first time that a provincial assembly made this demand, with its Speaker holding a press conference the next day to lend strong support to the idea of a constitutional amendment to end the near-dysfunctional state and, in some cases, the total absence of elected LGs for long periods of time.

A constitutional amendment bill drafted by the renowned constitutional lawyer Shahid Hamid, at the request of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency, was introduced by PTI senator Dr Sania Nishtar in the Senate in July 2023 to strengthen LGs in the country. The bill proposed the expansion of Article 140-A to include such details as elections taking place 60 days prior to the expiry of the LG term and the Sixth Schedule listing 36 subjects to be delegated to the LGs. The bill is pending before the Senate.

The MQM-P also introduced a constitutional amendment bill in the National Assembly in October 2024 to expand Article 140-A. The bill proposed the devolution of 42 subjects to the LGs. It called for a minimum guaranteed percentage of provincial revenue to be allocated to LGs and possibly directly transferred from the federal divisible pool to them. This bill also proposed the holding of LG elections before the expiry of their term.

There is a growing realisation in Pakistan that Article 140-A needs to be expanded.

The demand for a constitutional amendment to strengthen LGs started gaining momentum after almost 70 years of neglect of the LG system — a demand that was reinforced after the passage of the 18th Amendment in 2010 when significant powers were devolved from the federation to the provinces, precisely demarcating the powers between the federation and the provinces.

But the devolution from the provinces to the LGs was mentioned only in general terms through the insertion of the brief new Article 140-A (of 41 words). The new article provided that “each province shall establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of the local governments”, but, unlike in the case of the provincial governments, it gave no specific framework of LGs, such as the minimum powers, financial resources, term and elections. All these details were left to the provinces to decide through the LG laws to be framed by the respective provincial assemblies and, in the case of Islamabad, the parliament.

Although 15 years have passed since the 18th Amendment, LGs in the country remain ineffective and powerless. Usually, ineffective LG laws are framed by the provinces and amended frequently — the Election Commission of Pakistan is unable to keep pace with the changes and thus unable to hold elections.

A case in point is the election for the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation where the last LG existed till 2021. Since then, whenever the ECP completed the demarcation of the LGs and announced the election schedule, the government amended the law changing the number of union councils, thus forcing the ECP to start the process of demarcation afresh. The ECP narrated its tragic tale of failures in a press release issued in May this year where it summed up how it had conducted delimitation of constituencies five times and the election schedule was issued thrice, only to be cancelled later because of last-minute changes in election laws.

There is an inherent conflict of interest between the provincial and local governments.

Provincial governments do not want to let go of their powers and financial resources which have significantly increased since the passage of the 18th Amendment and the seventh NFC award. Generally, about one-third of the annual development funds are supposed to be spent through the LGs. No provincial government is, however, willing to part with these funds. In the absence of effective elected LGs, members of the national and provincial assemblies exercise considerable influence on local development spending and, therefore, are not keen on empowering LGs.

Neighbouring India faced a similar situation in the initial 42 years after enacting its constitution in 1950. In 1992, the Indian parliament passed two constitutional amendments inserting two full-fledged parts running into approximately 20 pages in the constitution. The 73rd amendment dealt with the panchayats or rural tier of the LGs and the 74th amendment was about the municipalities.

The Statement of Objects and Reasons of these amendment acts reveal considerable similarities between present-day Pakistan and pre-1992 India. The statement says: “In many states local bodies have become weak and ineffective on account of a variety of reasons, including the failure to hold regular elections, prolonged supersessions and inadequate devolution of powers and functions. … Having regard to these inadequacies, it is considered necessary that provisions relating to urban local bodies are incorporated in the Constitution… .”

No wonder there is a strong and growing realisation in Pakistan too that Article 140-A needs to be expanded to outline details, making it impossible for provinces to deny the establishment of effective LGs.

One may make the case that the LGs are a provincial subject and, therefore, expanding Article 140-A may run counter to provincial autonomy. The reality is that no one is suggesting the removal of ‘local governments’ from the provincial legislative list but as the insertion of Article 140-A was not a violation of provincial autonomy in 2010, further expansion of this article providing a basic outline of LGs will not interfere with provincial rights either.