PTI challenges election bill in SC

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday challenged the recently approved Election Act Amendment Bill in the Supreme Court, requesting it be declared null and void.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan submitted the petition to the top court under Article 184(3) through Advocate Salman Akram Raja, naming the federal government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as respondents.

The petition argues that the bill, which was approved by a majority vote yesterday despite strong protests and objections from opposition parties, is "unconstitutional and illegal".

"[…] The instant petition seeks to challenge, therefore, subversion of the democratic process made by the Impugned Act and is, therefore, a petition that raises questions of immense public importance with reference to the enforcement of the fundamental rights, conferred by the Constitution, in particular the rights guaranteed by Article 17," read the petition.

"Past and closed transactions that have taken place in terms of the Constitution and the Elections Act, 2017 prior to the enactment of the Impugned Act cannot be undone through the deemed retrospectively purportedly assigned to the Impugned Act," it added.

"The expression of the will of the people once made cannot be retrospectively subjected to restrictions that were non-existent at the time, and that are in any case unconstitutional. Actions taken by the people and their chosen representatives in the exercise of their constitutional rights cannot be undone by parliament through legislation. Such legislation suffers from malice in law."

The petition was filed under Article 184(3) (original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court) of the Constitution.

Article 184(3) of the Constitution sets out the SC's original jurisdiction and enables it to assume jurisdiction in matters involving a question of "public importance" with reference to the "enforcement of any of the fundamental rights" of Pakistan's citizens.

The federal government and the Election Commission of Pakistan have been made respondents in the case.

The PTI moved the apex court to immediately halt the electoral watchdog from allocating reserved seats to other political parties.

"The PTI has already submitted lists for the reserved seats to the Election Commission," the petition stated.

The party demands that women and non-Muslim reserved seats be allotted to the PTI, asserting their entitlement to these seats following the Supreme Court's July 12 decision.

The top court's July 12 decision, delivered by a 13-judge full bench, handed a major blow to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's ruling coalition by declaring that the opposition party PTI is entitled to reserved seats for women and non-Muslims.

A bill, titled "Elections (Second Amendment) Act, 2024" proposes changes to the Elections Act 2017 and is apparently aimed at circumventing the Supreme Court's July 12 ruling, which granted the PTI reserved seats and set it to re-emerge as the single largest party in the National Assembly.