Background

The Local Governments are a system of locally elected members elected by a community to make decisions on their behalf. The system has been implemented across the world and proved successful provided financial and administrative authority along with checks and balances. Former President Ayub Khan introduced basic democracy concept in Pakistan which broadly conformed to the idea. General Pervez Musharraf also introduced the local bodies system in 2005 and continued until 2010 when the incumbent party of the time dissolved the local governments. After the passage of 18^th amendment bill, the provinces were empowered to enable the required assistance to the election commission for conducting fresh local bodies’ elections. In view of the explicit Supreme Court orders to ensure the 18^th amendment clause relating to local bodies’ elections, Baluchistan was the first province to conduct these elections in 2014 followed by other provinces including Khyber Pukhtunkhwa.

Passage of Rules and Acts:

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2013 (KPLGA) was notified by the provincial government on 7 November 2013 and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Councils (Conduct of Elections) Rules, 2014 were published on 10 March 2014.

Functions:

Main functions of Local Councils are:

• Levying local taxes
• Short and long term developmental schemes for local area
• Enforcement of Muincipal law in local area
• Prepare local budgets, collect taxes, fines and penalties under the ambit of authority devolved to district governments
• providing and maintaining infrastructure and civic amenities

It may be noted that the provincial government can keep an oversight over the various functions of local councils to enhance accountability through:

• Inspection of local councils
• Audit of accounts
•  Issuing directions
•  Suspension of Nazims and Naib Nazims of local councils
•  Control over budget.

Basic Composition of Local Councils

There are three tiers in local councils, such as:

• Neighborhood (urban) / Village (rural) Councils - ( lowest tier having population size of 2000-10,000 people)
• The Town / Tehsil Councils – These members of these councils can vary depending on population of the area. Generally ranges between 5-92 members. . Reserved seats are allocated proportional to the direct seats margin of the political parties.
• City District Councils (top tier) - These members of these councils can vary depending on population of the area. Generally ranges between 16-92 members. Reserved seats are allocated proportional to the direct seats margin of the political parties.

Local Government Act 2013 and Amendments 2019 Key points

• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly has a total of 145 seats, including 115 general seats, 26 reserved for women, and four for minorities
• KPK have 35 Districts after the merge of FATA
• These 35 district have 4203 of total councils.

Allocation of Councils Seats before FATA merger with KP

Allocation of Councils seats in KPK after Fata merger

Zones of Districts for Representation in Provincial Finance Commission

Seats Allocation in FATA

• The merged districts from former Fata would have 21 seats in the provincial assembly, including 16 general seats, four reserved for women and one for the minorities.
• The merged districts in KPK include 7 districts namely Bajaur, Khyber, Kurrrum, Mohmand, Orakzai, North Waziristan and South Waziristan.
• The merged districts ( FATA) are composed of 702 councils.