NA speaker nudges ECP on reserved seats

ISLAMABAD:

Speaker of the National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has called on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to expedite the allocation of reserved seats for women and non-Muslims, urging it to respect Parliament's legislative authority over the Supreme Court's decision.

In a strongly-worded letter to the ECP on Tuesday, Sadiq reminded the Commission that three weeks had passed since his initial correspondence, yet no decision had been made, which he said undermines the rule of law and questions the sovereignty of Parliament.

The speaker's letter to the ECP is based on a letter of the parliamentary leaders in the NA, urging for the implementation of the Elections Act, 2017 as amended by the Parliament for allocation of the reserved seats of women and non-Muslims in the assembly.

Though Speaker NA Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has expressed the sentiments of the parliamentary leaders in the letter, he has also thrown a gauntlet to the national poll body by putting it in a position where it should accept Parliament's legislative authority over the Supreme Court's decision in the matter.

Through the letter, Sadiq has reminded the ECP about the importance of upholding Parliamentary sovereignty while allocating reserved seats, saying three weeks have passed since his first letter to the Commission yet no decision has so far been taken.

While referring to his earlier letter dated 19-09-2024, Sadiq said that the NA parliamentary leaders urged him in their letter for the implementation on the Elections Act, 2017 as amended by the Parliament for allocation of the reserved seats of women and non-Muslims in the NA.

In their letters addressed to him as custodian of the House, Sadiq stated that it has been stated that the matter of allocation of seats reserved for women and Non-Muslims is pending before the ECP.

He said that a simple question of law was before the commission, whether to allocate the referred seats as provided in Article 51 of the Constitution read with sections 67 and 104 of the Elections Act, 2017 or to allocate the seats as per the decision of the SC which admittedly was made prior to the amendments in the Elections Act, 2017 by the Parliament.

Further, he added, it has been stated therein that despite a lapse of approximately three weeks no decision has been made by the ECP "which is tantamount to violating the law of the land and questioning the legislative authority of the Parliament of Pakistan."

He maintained that the Parliamentary leaders, therefore, have requested him to send an urgent reminder for the needful to be done as per the legal scheme provided by the Constitution as well as the law.

In view of the above, the speaker has reiterated that the matter may be resolved without any further delay by the existing provisions of the Constitution and the Elections Act, 2017 as amended by the Parliament.

Earlier, Sadiq had issued a forceful letter to the ECP, urging it to respect parliamentary sovereignty in the allocation of reserved seats to the PTI. The letter had come on the heels of an SC judgment that had ruled that independent candidates, after winning elections, could join political parties and alter their political allegiance followed up by a note released by eight SC judges directing ECP to implement the judgment at the earliest.

On July 12, the Supreme Court declared PTI a parliamentary party and held that PTI was eligible to get reserved seats that were earlier distributed among other parties in the national and other assemblies.

However, in response, parliament passed the Elections (Second Amendment) Act, 2024, which imposes new restrictions on party-switching by independent candidates and overrides the Supreme Court's ruling. The bill was tabled by PML-N MNA, Bilal Azhar Kayani.

Through his letter, the speaker pointed out that parliament passed an amendment to the election law, saying it prohibits independent candidates who join a party post-election from switching their affiliation.

The speaker's letter was considered as a direct challenge to the court's decision as he has reinforced parliament's stance on the supremacy of its legislative authority.

The speaker had emphasised that the recent amendments to the Elections Act must be applied when the ECP allocates these contested seats, highlighting that the judgment was rendered before the new law was passed and thus became outdated in light of the legislative changes.

The significance of the reserved seats allocation extends beyond legal debates. The suspended seats currently prevent the ruling PML-N-led coalition from achieving a two-thirds majority in the NA, limiting their ability to pass constitutional amendments and other key legislation.

If the SC's ruling is implemented, PTI can gain control over these seats and emerge as the single largest party in NA.

With both the parliament and the judiciary asserting their authority, the ECP is in a tight spot and hasn't been able to resolve the reserved seats dispute, further complicating the political and parliamentary situation.