PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has completed the delimitation process by dividing the province into 3,493 village and neighbourhood councils as the government intends to hold local government polls by the end of April. Under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2013, creation of village and neighbourhood councils is mandatory for the local bodies’ elections. The province was divided into 2,989 village and 504 neighbourhood councils. The village councils are created in the rural areas while neighbourhood councils consist of urban areas. Chitral has been divided into 100 councils in the fresh delimitation. The provincial government would officially notify the details of the village and neighbourhood councils in a few days. The delimitation process was started on December 1, 2013. Peshawar is on top of the list of districts with 347 local councils including 217 village and 130 neighbourhood councils, followed by Mardan with 231 local councils including 178 village and 53 neighbourhood councils. Mansehra has 194 councils, Torgar 40, Charsadda 146, Hangu 62, Malakand 82, Tank 70, Battagram 90, Swabi 160, Buner 105, Dir Upper 116, Dir Lower 195, Shangla 106, Kohat, 91, Karak 61, Bannu 110, Lakki Marwat 96, Dera Ismail Khan 173, Abbottabad 209, Haripur 180, Nowshera 153 and Swat has 214 councils. There is no neighbourhood council in Kohistan and Buner as both the districts have no urban area while Torghar has only one neighbourhood council. The erstwhile union councils have been turned into wards for district and tehsil/town elections. Each of the wards was divided into two to three village and neighbourhood councils, sources said. The minimum population in each village and neighbourhood council is 2,000 individuals and the maximum is 10, 000.]]>