LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has ruled that Punjab’s local government elections be held on party basis as opposed to what the provincial government had originally envisaged, DawnNews reported.

The ruling issued on petitions seeking LG elections on party basis further stated that Sections 14 and 18 of the Punjab Local Government Act 2013 were in violation of the Constitution of Pakistan.

The petitions making the case for party-based local government polls were filed by Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid (PML-Q) and others.

A bench of the LHC, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, had been holding day- to-day hearing of the petitions and had reserved its ruling on the matter on Friday.

The petitioners were of the view that non-party polls would weaken the foundation of political parties in the province, which would be in the national interest.

Petitioners had also argued that the local government system was the foundation of all democratic principles and the structure of democracy was based on this foundation.

The Punjab government had however stated that the nature of LG institutions was not legislative but administrative, therefore, party-based elections could not be held. It had further said that the Constitution allowed party-based polls for legislative institutions only.