Punjab Assembly Speaker Urges Swift 27th Constitutional Amendment to Strengthen Local Governments

LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Ahmed Khan on Friday urged the federal government to move swiftly toward introducing the 27th Amendment to the Constitution — if required — to ensure the empowerment of local governments and the timely holding of local body elections.

Speaking at a press conference in Lahore, Khan stressed that democracy loses its meaning for citizens when its benefits are not experienced at the grassroots level. He said that while national and provincial assemblies enjoy full five-year terms, local governments must also be given constitutional protection and authority to function independently.

The Punjab Assembly has unanimously passed a resolution seeking a constitutional amendment that introduces a new chapter mandating local government elections within a fixed timeframe. The resolution also proposed that no political party should have the power to dissolve local bodies before their term ends.

Khan added that a caucus within the Punjab Assembly — including members from both the treasury and opposition benches — was actively working to promote local governance. He declared Article 140-A incomplete, insisting that provinces must devolve both administrative and financial powers.

Criticising the previous government’s decision to dissolve local bodies, Khan noted that it took three years to draft new legislation while citizens continued to face basic civic issues. “Even in my own area, drainage and sanitation problems persist,” he said.

Khan called for the Constitution to ensure timely local elections and grant local bodies full political, administrative, and financial powers. “If the 27th Amendment is necessary to guarantee this, it must be enacted without delay,” he said.

Commenting on law and order, he recalled recent violent protests in Faizabad and Murree Road, saying the state must maintain order and protect lives.

He also touched upon Pakistan’s wider political climate, noting that “a powerless parliament is worse than no parliament at all” and urging Parliament to adopt the Punjab Assembly’s recommendations for devolving power.

This comes days after Federal Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain hinted that the PML-N government was considering revisiting the 18th Amendment to align it with “current governance realities.”