Strategic Assessment of Punjab’s 2019 Local Government Institutions in Punjab
Published - May 1, 2019Authored by: Ali Cheema & Ahsan Farooqui
Punjab’s recent local government reforms have resulted in a proliferation of elected upper tier local governments and elected lower tier councils in the province. This is a consequence of bringing local government closer to the people. In the preceding system an average rural local government served 3 million citizens, in the reformed system the average tehsil council will instead serve a much smaller base of around 0.45 million citizens. Similarly, the average rural union council in the preceding system served
around 20,000 citizens, whereas a village panchayat will now serve a much smaller pool of approximately 2,700 citizens. Under the reformed system, candidates for upper tier office will have to seek much larger mandates and these elections are also likely to be extremely competitive. These features, along with the stipulated increase in the transfer of resources, are likely to increase citizen expectations of their local elected representatives, which can only be met by building a system that has strong accountability mechanisms and is able to function effectively and efficiently. This will require building effective institutional and organizational capacity to support and oversee the new local governments.
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Cheema, A. & Farooqui, A. (2019). Strategic Assessment of Punjab’s 2019 Local Government Institutions in Punjab. Report for the Government of Punjab and FCDO (UK) Sub-National Governance Program in Punjab.