ECP notifies 39 returned MNAs as PTI lawmakers after SC order

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has notified 39 returned MNAs as PTI lawmakers after the Supreme Court ordered the body to do so in its verdict on the reserved seats case, it emerged on Thursday.

The notification for the 39 MNAs was issued on Wednesday.

In a unique majority verdict, the Supreme Court on July 12 declared the PTI eligible to receive reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the national and provincial assemblies, giving it a new lease on life in the legislature by declaring it to be a parliamentary party.

Despite an 8-5 split, all 13 judges declared the PTI a parliamentary party.

The majority judgement explained that 39 out of the 80 MNAs, shown by the ECP as PTI candidates, belonged to the party.

The rest of the 41 independents would have to file duly signed and notarised statements before the commission within 15 days, explaining that they contested the February 8 general elections as a candidate of a particular political party.

The ECP had finally decided last week to implement the apex court’s decision.

Friday’s meeting had noted that 39 MNAs who were declared as PTI lawmakers had mentioned their affiliation with the party in their nomination papers, whereas it was necessary for the candidates to submit a party ticket and declaration to the returning officer concerned, which was not done and it was not possible for the returning officers to declare them a PTI candidate in such situation.

“The 41 candidates who have been declared independent had neither mentioned PTI in their nomination papers nor disclosed their affiliation with the party. And also did not submit any party ticket. Therefore, the returning officers allowed them to participate in the election as independent candidates,” the ECP had explained.

The ECP notification said the following “returned candidates against general seats of National Assembly are declared to have been returned as candidates” of PTI.

The 39 MNAs are Amjad Ali Khan, Saleem Rehman, Sohail Sultan, Muhammad Bashir Khan, Mehboob Shah, Junaid Akbar, Ali Khan Jadoon, Asad Qaiser, Shahram Khan, Mujahid Al, Anwar Taj, Fazal Muhammad Khan, Arbab Amir Ayub, Shandana Gulzar Khan, Sher Ali Arbab, Asif Khan, Syed Shah Ahad Ali Shah, Shahid Khan, Nasim Ali Shah, Sher Afzal Khan, Usama Ahmed Mela, Shafqat Abbas, Ali Afzal Sahi, Rai Haider Ali Khan, Nisar Ahmed, Rana Atif, Changaze Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Ali Sarfraz, Khurram Shahzad Virk, Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa, Rai Hassan Nawaz Khan, Malik Muhammad Aamir Dogar, Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi, Rana Muhammad Faraz Noon, Mumtaz Mustafa, Muhammad Shabbir Ali Qureshi, Umber Majeed, Awais Haider Jakhar and Zartaj Gul.

The reserved seats issue

In a 4-1 verdict in March, the ECP had ruled that the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) was not entitled to claim quota for reserved seats “due to having non-curable legal defects and violation of a mandatory provision of submission of party list for reserved seats”.

The commission had also decided to distribute the seats among other parliamentary parties, with the PML-N and the PPP becoming major beneficiaries with 16 and five additional seats while the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) was given four. Meanwhile, the verdict was rejected by the PTI as unconstitutional.

Later the same month, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) had dismissed an SIC plea challenging the ECP decision and denied it reserved seats.

In April, the SIC filed a petition before the SC — moved by party chief Sahibzada Hamid Raza — seeking to set aside the PHC judgment.

The apex court on May 6 had suspended the March 14 PHC judgment as well as the March 1 ECP decision to deprive the SIC of seats reserved for women and minorities.

The SC had also ordered placing the present petitions before the three-judge committee that determines the constitution of the bench for the reconstitution of a larger bench when Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan highlighted that under Section 4 of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023, the present case should be heard by a larger bench since the issue concerns the interpretation of constitutional provisions.

The ECP subsequently suspended victory notifications of as many as 77 members of the national and provincial assemblies elected on those seats.

The suspended lawmakers include 44 from PML-N, 15 from PPP, 13 from JUI-F and one each from PML-Q, IPP, PTI-P, MQM-P and ANP.

Resultantly, the ruling coalition lost a two-thirds majority in the lower house of Parliament for now, with its numerical strength shrinking to 209 from 228. In the House of 336, the magic figure to attain a two-thirds majority comes to 224.

The PML-N’s strength in the House has reduced from 121 to 107 while PPP’s from 72 to 67.

Those suspended include 22 members of the National Assembly elected on reserved seats for women and minorities. They include 14 from PML-N, five from PPP and three from JUI-F.

Headed by the chief justice, a full court meeting had considered various aspects of the controversy at length since the case is of first impression and will have a far-reaching impact on the allotment of the reserved seats among political parties in the legislature in the future as well.

The real controversy before the court was how to deal with the reserved seats if they are neither doled out to other parties having a presence in Parliament and provincial assemblies nor allotted to the SIC that did not contest the Feb 8 general elections and thus failed to secure a single seat — a legal requirement for the allotment of reserved seats according to the ECP.

The SIC, however, argued that under the concept of a proportionate representation system, it was not a constitutional requirement for the allocation of reserved seats that a political party having general seats in the assemblies had contested the general elections.