low turnout was observed in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local government by-elections held on October 20 in 17 districts. Independent candidates won a majority of the seats unopposed. Polling data pointed to a lack of public interest in the elections.

According to information obtained from the Election Commission of Pakistan, the by-polls, for general, women, youthrepresentatives as well as one kissanseat were held for 54 seats and 53 village and neighbourhood councils across Peshawar, Mardan, Swat, Kohat, Bannu, DeraIsmail Khan and Mansehra divisions.

Sajjad Khan, a resident of Badaber, a neighbourhood situated on the main Indus Road said that he did not cast his vote.He said he had his reasons for not doing so.

“We have not seen any semblance of local development. I have no interest in local government by-elections because the local councils failed to deliver services over the last two and a half years,”he said.

The last KP local elections were held almost three years ago. Those elections were held under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Amendment Act 2019in two phases.

On December 19, 2021, polling was held for the first phase.On March 15, 2022, the newly elected local government members took oaths. The second phase polling was held on March 31, 2022. Elected members assumed office in June 20, 2022.

After the local governments took charge in 2022, major amendments were made to the KPLGA. After the amendment in law, local governments were deprived of funds because Section 30, Sub-section 2, Clause B was removed. The section had provided that the local governments would receive funds and grants from the provincial government.

Critics said that the section’s removal had severely limited the financial powers of the local bodies in the province, rendering them ‘inefficient’ and ‘financially crippled.’

Mayor HimayatUllahMayarof Mardanwas one of the vocal critics of the KPLGA amendments. He said that the amendments were a setback and had reversed the devolution of power to the local bodies.

He and some other elected representatives held a series of meetings with the former and the current chief ministers aimed at empowering the local bodies.

“The amendment is a major hindrance. It has weakened the local governments and robbed it of its power. The trickledown of this move is affecting everything from the delivery of social services and local operations to governance,” the mayor told The News on Sunday.

“Eventually the house council meeting was suspended. That is how we ended up with a ‘toothless’ local government system. It has been this way for the last two and half years,” he complained.

“We need empowerment and funds for local development. Without funds the local government can’t serve the people.” 

Mayar said that when the amendment was implemented, the elected members of the local government took to protesting and moved court. “After several rounds of negotiation, the then chief minister, Mehmood Khan, assured us that he would rescind the amendment.He resigned soon after that and the provincial government ended without completing the term,” he said.

“After that, for one year the caretaker provincial government took over.They had no mandate to amend the law. The Election Commission also imposed a ban on release of funds,” he said.

According to Mayar, local representatives had held several meetings with Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur over the issue. “The chief minister promised to release funds for the local government but he said it would happen only after the federal government disbursed funds. He said that the provincial government was short on funds,” said Mayar.

“We also demanded that the amendment be revoked.Instead, the government offered to amend the rules of business of the local government. We agreed on that,” said Mayar. “We need empowerment and funds for local development. Without funds the local governments can’t serve the people.”

Last week, Chief Minister Gandapur chaired a meeting on local bodies and agreed on the proposed amendments to Tehsil Local Government Rules of Business 2022. These would soon be presented in the provincial cabinet meeting for approval. The provincial government has also increased the stipend of the tehsil council chairman from 30,000 to 80,000 rupees.

Gandapur said that the provincial government was serious about empowering local governments.

“The provincial government is committed to resolving the local governments’ administrative and financial matters. For the village and neighbourhoodcouncils in settled districts, the government has released Rs466 million. Rs94 million has already been released for the merged districts,” he said.

“Rs548 million has been disbursed to the settled district tehsil municipal authorities. Fnds to the tune of Rs33 million have been released for merged districts,” said Gandapur.

Abdul HaleemKhan, the young chairman of Amir Abad union council in Tangisub-division, told the TNS that the Charsadda district local government had received Rs20 million rupees, for its 146 UCs.

“The community has high expectations but the provincial government has released only Rs266,000 rupees for our UC. The fundsare not enough for our office rent, utility bills and other expenses. We are unable to serve the community due to the limited availability of development funds,” Abdul Haleem Khan said.

There are 131 tehsil councils, 4,212 village councilsand neighborhood councils in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The total number of elected members in the province is 29,936.

The writer is a multimedia producer. He tweets @daudpasaney “We need empowerment and funds for local development. Without funds the local government can’t serve the people.”