LAHORE (MNN); The Punjab government on Monday informed the Lahore High Court that upcoming local government elections in the province will be conducted on a party basis.
The statement was made by an assistant advocate general during the hearing of petitions filed by PTI-backed MPA Sheikh Imtiaz and others, who have challenged the Punjab Local Government Act 2025.
The claim appeared to contradict the law passed in October, which explicitly states that local government elections are to be held on a non-party basis. However, the government submitted a report from the local government secretary saying that political parties may allow candidates to contest local government polls on party tickets.
The law officer told the court that Section 55 of the Punjab Local Government Act does not place any political party at a disadvantage.
Justice Sultan Tanvir Ahmad asked whether the petitioners’ concerns stood resolved since the government itself was now stating that elections would be party-based. The petitioner’s counsel replied that their objection on that specific point had been addressed and requested that the government’s reply be made part of the court record.
The court also heard from Election Commission of Pakistan Director General (Law) Khurram Shahzad, who stated that the ECP, as a constitutional body, was fully prepared to conduct elections under whatever law was enacted by the government.
He said the commission had sent nearly 80 letters to the Punjab government over the past four years regarding the holding of local government elections and added that the provincial government had set January 10 as the deadline for election preparations.
Justice Ahmad questioned why the Punjab Advocate General’s office had not filed a formal reply to the petitions and directed it to submit its response by Tuesday. He observed that certain provisions of the challenged law appeared to be inconsistent with the Constitution and stressed that the matter required an early decision.
The Punjab Local Government Act 2025 was passed by the provincial assembly within five days, following strong intervention by the ECP, which had earlier announced local government elections under the 2022 law.
Local government polls in Punjab have remained delayed since 2019, when the then PTI-led provincial government dissolved local bodies. Although the Supreme Court later restored them, their term ended on December 31, 2021.
Under the Constitution and the Elections Act, the ECP is required to hold local government elections within 120 days of the expiry of local bodies’ tenure. Despite this, repeated amendments to the law delayed the process.
The PTI has termed the new law a violation of Article 140 of the Constitution and has challenged it before the court.
