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Pakistan's election body on Thursday suspended Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz's free electricity scheme until the by-elections on 20 seats scheduled to be held on July 17.
On Monday, the Chief Minister announced free electricity for households consuming up to 100 units from July under the "Punjab Chief Minister Roshan Gharana Programme", Dawn newspaper reported. This comes in the wake of a ban imposed by the Election Commission of Pakistan on initiating any development projects until the by-polls were out of the way. The "Punjab Chief Minister Roshan Gharana Programme" was a part of the provincial budget announced last month, Khalid Ishaq, the counsel of the Chief Minister has said in the response sought by ECP. Punjab province received a huge share of 51.74 per cent in the budgetary distribution of resources among the federation and provinces, depicting the favourable behaviours of Shehbaz Sharif-led country's government as his son Hamza Shahbaz is the Chief Minister of the province. The chief election commissioner said that action would be taken for violation of the electoral code of conduct in accordance with the law. No development programmes should be announced till the by-elections, he directed. "The Election Commission rejects all propaganda to make by-elections controversial. The Election Commission has more support from law enforcement agencies than ever before," he said. The by-elections in 20 constituencies in Punjab would be held in a transparent manner, he vowed, as per Dawn. (ANI)
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