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The Punjab government"s plan to not collect energy bills from users who use only around 100 units under Roshan Gharana programme from now until July 17 has been stopped by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

On the basis of a violation of the code of conduct for by-elections, the ECP heard the notice of the case that was submitted to Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz earlier today.

The scheme, according to the PML-N leader"s attorney, was introduced in the provincial budget and had nothing to do with the by-elections for the province.

The member of the Sindh Election Commission argued that making pronouncements like this would be seen as an attempt to influence the polls, to which Hamza"s attorney countered that if the Punjab chief actually wanted to influence the elections, he would never have increased gasoline prices.

The commission rebutted, saying, "Raising the price of gasoline is not the purview of the provincial administration."

The initiative was already included in the budget, therefore the chief election commissioner (CEC) questioned why it was being announced again.

According to Hamza"s attorney, the initiative was re-announced to cover customers using 50 and 100 units of power because of the increase in inflation.

The director-general of law for the ECP stated at the hearing that the commission"s role was to ensure that all parties had an equal playing field and that the Punjab govt"s programme was an effort to sway the impending by-elections.

"The by-elections have 10 days left. This initiative needs to be terminated, he said.

The initiative will, however, benefit customers in August, according to the Punjab chief executive"s legal counsel.

The CEC then declared that the Punjab government"s Roshan Gharana programme would be halted until July 17 and that appropriate punishment would be taken for any code of conduct violations.

"As a result, the development plan should wait until after the by-elections to be announced. The ECP opposes any attempt at stoking controversy over by-elections, he declared.

The electoral watchdog stressed that elections in Punjab"s 20 constituencies would be transparent.

The CEC said that following the by-elections on July 17, the province administration should launch the Roshan Gharana programme.