PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) cabinet has decided to hold local bodies elections in the province on September 15 this year.
The decision was made in a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and provincial ministers, advisers and administrative secretaries.
The cabinet decided to hold local bodies elections in the province on 15 September 2021. The meeting also approved Local Councils Conduct of Election Rules 2020.
KP Law minister Sultan Mohammad Khan and adviser to the chief minister on science and information technology Ziaullah Bangash told reporters later that the decision about local government polls was a big development.
Sultan said the provincial government would coordinate with the Election Commission of Pakistan for the holding of the Sept 15 elections. He said the local government elections would be a milestone and will ensure the delegation of powers to the grassroots level.
The KP local bodies system completed its tenure during August 2020. The ECP recently held a meeting to review arrangements for the polls. The commission is bound to hold elections within 120 days after the expiry of LB tenure under Article 140(A) and Section (4)219 of the Election Act 2017.
The cabinet examined 37 agenda items and approved 30 of them in the five hours long meeting. It also approved the establishment of a water commission and authority for safeguarding water resources. It also approved compensation worth Rs1 million for families of victims who died in the Khyber Teaching Hospital incident, and a grant for school teachers serving in double shifts.
The meeting also approved Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Probation and Payroll Act 2020 and business rules for the youth development commission. It also decided to find new avenues of tax collection in the province besides also approving a grant of Rs4.3 billion for expanding gas supply infrastructure in the province.
The cabinet also gave a nod to the registration of 12 separate publishers and printers for publication of the Holy Quran. It was further decided to dissolve the board of governors of Qazi Hussain Ahmed Medical Teaching Institute over poor performance.
