CEC calls meeting on reserved seats
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja has called for an urgent meeting of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) officials to strategize the implementation of the Supreme Courts recent ruling concerning reserved seats for the PTI.
The meeting is expected to navigate the procedural and legal complexities arising from the SCs decision, amid heightened political tensions.
The huddle, scheduled for July 18 (Thursday) at 11:00 am, will focus on deliberating the modalities to enforce the SCs decision granting reserved seats to the PTI.
Last Friday, in a unique majority verdict, the Supreme Court had declared the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) eligible to receive reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the national and provincial assemblies, giving it a new lease on life in the legislature by declaring it to be a parliamentary party.
As the full bench consisting of 13 judges settled into their seats inside Courtroom No 1, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa asked Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah the senior puisne judge to announce the majority verdict he authored, which was supported by seven other judges: Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice MuhammadAli Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan.
Despite the 8-5 split, all 13 judges declared the PTI a parliamentary party, much to the relief of PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan. The majority judgement explained that 39 out of the 80 MNAs, shown by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as PTI candidates, belonged to PTI.
The rest of the 41 independents will now have to file duly signed and notarised statements before the commission within 15 days, explaining that they contested the Feb 8 general elections as a candidate of a particular political party.
If such a statement is filed, the ECP will give notice to the concerned political party, seeking a confirmation within 15 days that those MNAs had indeed contested as its candidates.
Thereafter, under Article 51 of the Constitution, ECP will post on its website a list of the returned candidates and will submit a compliance report before the apex court.
The order explained that under Article 51(5) of the Constitution, the PTI will be entitled to reserved seats for women and minorities in the National and provincial assemblies of KP, Punjab and Sindh according to the number of general seats secured by it.
In case ECP or PTI need any clarification, the majority judgement said, the commission can apply to the court by making an appropriate application, which will be put before judges constituting the majority in chambers, for directions as may be deemed appropriate.
In response to the ruling, the ruling PML-N lodged a review petition on Monday challenging the SCs decision favouring the PTIs claim to the reserved seats.
The PML-Ns petition argued that the PTI was not initially a party to the case, as it was the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) that had approached the apex court. The party contended that the SCs directive to allocate reserved seats to the PTI based on the SICs plea constitutes a violation of legal procedures.
In its petition, the PML-N has named the SIC and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as respondents, seeking a reversal of the July 12 court order.