LAHORE, Sept 23: Khwaja Ahmad Hassaan was once again restrained from exercising his powers by the Punjab Election Authority on Tuesday, within 24 hours of being restored to his office by the Lahore High Court.

The PEA had earlier decided to hold voting on the recall motion against Mr Hassaan on Tuesday but postponed it for an indefinite period on Monday when he was restored to the office. There were no indications of voting on the recall motion even otherwise because reports of departure of councillors to Murree had poured in and district Nazim Mian Amer had left for the US to attend the world mayor’s conference on environment.

Mr Hassaan visited the town office on Tuesday and remained there till late in the evening. He, however, found his office locked and Town Municipal Officer Liaquat Ali Bhatti restrained him from using it on the ground that the government had not issued any orders in this regard.

The PEA orders restraining him from exercising his powers as town Nazim were received on the fax in the office of Mr Bhatti a few hours after his departure.

Mr Hassaan’s rival, Tariq Sana Bajwa, also visited the town office and remained with Mr Bhatti.

Mr Hassaan has been restrained from using his powers as town Nazim for the third time during the past one month. Punjab local government secretary Naguibullah Malik restrained him from using his powers immediately after the adoption of the recall motion last month. He withdrew his orders after the PEA restrained Mr Hassaan from exercising his powers while fixing Sept 23 as the date for voting on recall motion.

Mr Hassaan, a former lord mayor of Lahore, was elected Data Ganj Bakhsh Town Nazim in 2001. The government decided to remove him from the office after he declined the offer to leave the Nawaz League and join the PML-Q.