Lahore High Court has refused to consider a call by opposition parties to stay the election on reserved seats in the Local Government election when a law officer made it clear that the Election Commission had already suspended the election on these seats. The court has deferred the hearing of main petitions to March 3, challenging amendments in the 2016 Punjab Local Government (Amended) Ordinance.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam and Pakistan Awami Tehreek have forwarded the petitions. The amendments are related to the provision of secret ballot for election of chairmen and vice chairmen of district council, municipal committee and mayor and deputy mayor of metropolitan corporations and municipal corporations. Petitioners had requested the court to declare the impugned amendments in the law as null and void. They also asked the court to restrain the ECP from conducting the forthcoming election process.