PTI cannot be given reserved seats after joining non-parliamentary party: Tarar

Information minister says government fully supports NA speaker's letter to the chief election commissioner

ISLAMABAD:

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar stated on Tuesday that it is impossible to turn back time to allocate reserved seats to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after its irreversible mistake of aligning with the Sunni Ittehad Council, which is not a parliamentary party.

Speaking to the media, he remarked that PTI had the option to join the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen, a party with representation in the Parliament, but it failed to do so.

He further elaborated that the government fully supports the National Assembly speaker's letter to the chief election commissioner, questioning how reserved seats could be allocated to a party that no longer has a presence in the House.

Tarar raised the issue of whether the courts could rectify PTI's past mistakes. He questioned whether independent candidates had submitted fake affidavits or failed to formalise their affiliations with political parties. He also asked whether members could freely change their party allegiance by revoking submitted affidavits.

The minister pointed out that an amendment to the existing election law now requires independent candidates to join a political party within three days. Defying a party's stance after submitting an affidavit in the House constitutes floor-crossing, he added.

Expressing surprise over PTI leader Salman Akram Raja's statement, Tarar said Raja had told the court that he had no objection to PTI being allocated reserved seats. Tarar suggested that the matter required an official clarification.

Additionally, he mentioned that a senior justice, in his dissenting note, raised pertinent questions about how the PTI could receive relief when it was not a party to the case. "These constitutional questions must be addressed," he noted.

The minister also praised the NA speaker for upholding parliamentary supremacy by writing a letter to the CEC regarding the reserved seats. He added that the speaker's legal concerns were valid as allowing members to change parties would effectively "overrule legislation and turn back the clock."