In a major boost for former premier Imran Khan and his embattled party, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has officially recognized 93 lawmakers from the Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh assemblies as “returned candidates” of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), following a Supreme Court order regarding reserved seats, Geo News reported.
The development, which makes Imran Khan-founded PTI the largest party in the national assembly, came days after the election watchdog declared 39 PTI lawmakers from the National Assembly as the candidates affiliated with the PTI.
These members — 93 from the provincial assemblies and 39 from the National Assembly — had shown their affiliation with the party in their documents submitted to the election commission ahead of the general elections.
Earlier on Monday, the ECP uploaded the notification on its website, according to which, 29 PTI lawmakers from the Punjab assembly, 58 from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly, and six members of provincial assemblies from Sindh have been declared as PTI members.
On July 25, the polls regulator sought the apex court’s guidance on legal and constitutional aspects regarding the issue of the PTI lawmakers in the national and provincial assemblies.
The ECP, in its civil miscellaneous application, argued that it was facing difficulty in implementing the top court’s ruling in the reserved seats as the “PTI at the moment has no organisational structure for confirmation of the statements of MNAs and MPAs, purportedly belong to PTI,” as reported by Geo News.
But, in a major victory for Khan and his party, the Pakistan SC, in its landmark ruling on July 12, declared the former ruling party eligible for reserved seats of women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies.
These PTI members contested the February 8 elections as independent candidates and later joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) on the party’s instruction in a bid to receive reserved seats, as independents are not allowed under law to get reserved seats.
Ahead of the February 8 polls, the top court upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to deprive the party of its iconic ‘bat’ symbol, leaving the PTI without the status of a political party.
After winning the most seats in the elections earlier this year, the PTI was denied reserved seats by the ECP and this decision was also upheld by the Peshawar High Court (PHC), citing that the party could not submit the list of its candidates for reserved seats in the stipulated time.
Dismissing the ECP’s verdict, the apex court ruled on July 12 that “PTI was and is a political party” that won general seats in the national and provincial assemblies in the February 8 elections and, thus, is entitled to reserved seats.
Amid the possibility of the PTI becoming the largest party in the assemblies after getting the reserved seats following the SC’s order, the ruling coalition partners, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), even filed a review petition in the apex court against the reserved seats’ verdict, Geo News reported.
(ANI)