ISLAMABAD: An official of the Election Commission of Pakistan said on Saturday that local government elections in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were not possible by Nov 15.

The LG polls had already been held in Balochistan in December last year.

Talking to Dawn, he said the Supreme Court, in its March 19 judgement, had given five months to the federal and provincial governments to enact laws and asked the ECP to carry out delimitation in Punjab and Sindh in 45 days.

He said the federal and three provincial governments were responsible for the delay and not the ECP.

The official said the commission had endorsed a draft law sent to it by the federal government with the observation that Article 222 of the constitution, which defined responsibilities of the ECP, should also be amended.

`We are still awaiting a response.

He said the provinces had yet to carry out the legislation.

He said the ECP could start the delimitation exercise only after an amendment to Article 222 and the process would require about 180 days.

The official said the provinces were required to complete the legislation and specifically give powers of delimitation to the ECP.

He said 110 million ballot papers were to be printed for Punjab alone and the job would take about 45 days.

He said if the LG polls were to be held in November, their schedule should be announced by the middle of October.

The ECP official said the situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was different as its law provided for delimitation by a delimitation authority and the exercise had already been carried out and notified.

He said the KP government was yet to enact the legislation and send a requisition to the commission for holding the polls.