The Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz was given a notice by the Pakistani Election Commission on Tuesday for breaking the code of conduct established for the impending by-elections in the province.
The PML-N leader promised that the move would help the province’s estimated nine million poor people when he pledged free power for houses using up to 100 units starting in July.
Hamza’s rescue effort was publicised despite the Election Commission of Pakistan’s prohibition on starting any new projects before the July 17 by-elections for 20 seats in the Punjab Assembly.
The electoral watchdog was alerted to the infringement on Tuesday, and on July 7 it delivered a notice to the PML-N leader and summoned him to appear. It instructed the chief minister to make a personal appearance before the commission on July 7 at 10am or to send a representative to represent him.
The notice stated that the Election Commission of Pakistan was required by Article 218 (3) of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s Constitution to organise and conduct elections as well as to make the necessary arrangements to ensure that they were conducted honestly, justly, fairly, and in accordance with the law and that corrupt practises were prevented.
The chief minister’s ambition, according to Fawad’s letter, was to clear the way for the election of the leader of the house on July 22 rather than providing facilities to the populace, which is directly dependent on the July 17 by-elections, he added. “There is no room for such packages in the deteriorating economic situation of Pakistan,” Fawad wrote. “This action by CM Hamza exceeds the authority granted to him by the Supreme Court for a specific length of time,”
It stated that it had learned via the media that the chief minister had, on July 4, during a news conference, announced a subsidy relief programme for Punjab’s power users under the “Roshan Gharana Programme,” which was against the election’s rules.
The chief minister, who has been appointed with restricted authority for a temporary period, is allegedly going beyond his authority and attempting to sway the by-elections using government resources. The ECP also failed to take any notice of this, so it is requested that the matter be brought before the chief justice of Pakistan for review.
