ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to conduct local government elections in Punjab under the newly approved Local Government Act, instead of the 2022 version.

According to sources, the elections will now be held in accordance with the new law recently passed by the Punjab Assembly.

Under the new system, each Union Council (UC) will elect nine councillors directly, and the elections will be held on a non-party basis.

Sources further revealed that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is likely to be excluded from the electoral process, as the party currently lacks an official election symbol.

If PTI-backed candidates contest and win as independents, they will not be allowed to join the party later, since the new law requires all elected councillors to affiliate with a political party within 30 days of their election.

Another serious problem for PTI is that their intra-party case is pending in the Election Commission for the last 19 months.

The lawyers of the party did not show any seriousness in settling this case due to which the internal affairs of the party could not be resolved, due to the stay order in the Lahore High Court, the commission has stopped the hearing of this case and no decision has been made yet.