PTI-specific bill becomes parliament's act

President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday signed the Election Act (Amendment) Bill, 2024, thereby turning the controversial bill into an act of parliament.

After the president's approval, the National Assembly Secretariat declared the Election Act (Amendment) Bill, 2024, as the 15th act of the current parliament and directed its law section to issue the gazette notification.

This new legislation has created a legal obstacle for the 41 Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) lawmakers, whom the Supreme Court on July 12 had permitted to join the PTI. These 41 SIC lawmakers will no longer be able to join the PTI, with whose backing they had won the February 8 general elections.

Under the Election Act (Amendment) Act, 2024, any candidate who does not submit a party certificate before obtaining an election symbol will be considered an independent candidate.

If a political party fails to submit the list of candidates for reserved seats within the prescribed period, it will no longer be entitled to those reserved seats. Additionally, any candidate's affiliation with a political party expressed within the prescribed period will be irrevocable.

The ruling coalition pushed the PTI-specific legislation through parliament after a full bench of the Supreme Court on July 12 reinstated the PTI, which had not contested the general election as a party due to the stripping of its election symbol.

With a majority of 8 to 5 votes, the apex court declared 39 of the 80 SIC lawmakers who had submitted their party affiliation certificates along with their nomination papers as PTI lawmakers.

The court also allowed the remaining 41 SIC lawmakers to submit certificates showing their affiliation with the PTI to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) within 15 days. After the completion of this process, the party could become eligible to claim reserved seats in the National Assembly.