LAHORE: Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja on Tuesday asked the Punjab government to enact a local government law within seven days for the local government elections in the province.

The chief election commissioner said that the election commission would hold the local government elections on the basis of the previous law if the new law was not enacted within seven days. He warned the Punjab government of initiating contempt proceedings if it did not cooperate.

A three-member bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, heard the case on the issue of the local government elections in Punjab.

The ECP special secretary told the bench that the tenure of the local governments in Punjab had been completed on December 31, 2021.

He added that the ECP had released the schedule of the local government elections in Punjab on April 14, 2022.

“The Lahore High Court (LHC) had given stay orders on it. We have done demarcation of constituencies twice. A contempt proceeding should be initiated against the Punjab government,” he demanded.

The Punjab chief secretary adopted that a meeting of the provincial assembly was underway in which the local government ordinance would be made.

“Currently, only the matter of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) is under discussion,” he added.

“There have been investigations on the EVMs in the world. Only two countries – Brazil and India – are using the EVMs,” the CEC remarked.

“The investigations show that if the EVMs are imposed in haste, the election will become suspicious and anarchy will spread,” he stated.

“It cannot be that we conduct elections on the EVMs only because we like it and anarchy spreads throughout the country,” he added.

“We will not hold further meetings with the Punjab government. We will rather take a decision now. We are sending a reference to the Supreme Court that the Punjab government is not conducting elections,” he declared.

He also said that the Punjab government was not implementing the orders of the Supreme Court and a contempt of court proceeding should be initiated.

He directed the Punjab government to enact the local government act within seven days. “Otherwise, the local government elections will be held in Punjab on basis of the previous law,” he declared.

“If the Punjab government does not cooperate on the local government elections, a contempt proceeding will be initiated,” he warned. The election commission then adjourned the hearing of the case till Thursday next week.