Utmost effort to conduct LG polls through EVM: minister

LAHORE:Punjab Minister for Local Government and Community Development (LGCD) Mian Mahmood-ul-Rashid has said that the Tehreek-e-Insaf government wanted to transfer the power to the real representatives of the people at the grassroots level by conducting local bodies elections in Punjab soon, for which all possible measures were being taken.

He was presiding over a meeting at the Civil Secretariat on Wednesday. In the meeting, various aspects were discussed to introduce the new Punjab Local Government Act, while the Local Government secretary briefed the minister on anticipated amendments to new proposed LG law.

He said that by changing the previous local government law, it would be adapted to the vision of Imran Khan so that a local government system could be established in the province in the true sense, under which local problems could be solved by local representatives elected by the local community. He directed the officers concerned to prepare the amendments to change the Local Government Act and submit the draft by next Monday. The minister further said that the proposed amendments would be first submitted to Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and PTI Chairman Imran Khan and after their approval, the bill would be passed by the Assembly. He said that the LG Act of 2019 passed by PTI government was closer to the aspirations of the people but the PDM govt changed it just for the sake of its ego. He said that the utmost efforts were to conduct fully transparent local elections under EVM. Agreeing with the Local Government Secretary's proposal, the minister said that the imbalance in the ratio of general and reserved seats should be removed in the new law.