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LAHORE:
The Lahore High Court (LHC) sought arguments of the advocate general for Punjab on several petitions challenging the Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Act 2025 with requests to hold local body elections on a party basis.
Justice Sultan Tanvir Ahmad heard the petitions filed by the Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and others.
During the hearing, a law officer assured the court that the local government elections would be conducted on a party basis.
However, a petitioner’s counsel Azhar Siddique insisted that, under the amended law, elections were being planned on a non-party basis, arguing that this contradicts democratic principles. The Election Commission’s law director general informed the court that delimitation would begin after January 10 and would take two-and-a-half to three months to complete. He added that local government elections would be held within 60 days after the completion of the delimitation.
The petitioners’ counsel requested the court to make part of the record the government’s statement that the elections would be party based.
