On Thursday, President Dr Arif Alvi has issued an ordinance to hold local bodies elections in the federal capital.
For the local body elections, EVMs and I-voting will be used in Islamabad, while the mayor of the local government will be directly elected from the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), according to the 109-page ordinance.
The ordinance further states that, the Metropolitan Corporation of the ICT will be the Neighborhood Council and the Metropolitan Corporation will have all areas of cantonment under its jurisdiction, except the ICT. The population of each Neighborhood Council will be 20,000.
Islamabad’s local government will run under a directly elected mayor and the tenure of the local government and neighbourhood council will be four years. The mayor of Islamabad will have a 12-member cabinet, said the ordinance.
The number of ICT Council members will be 70. To participate in the elections, the candidate is required not to be below 22 years, while a youth member will be aged between 18 and 25.
The Neighborhood Council will include general members, women, minorities, youth and senior citizens. Meanwhile, the ICT Council will include women, minority members, youth, businessmen, labourers, farmers and senior citizens.
