Reserved seats: Finally, ECP says has decided to implement apex court verdict

ISLAMABAD: The electoral entity has finally announced to have decided implementing the Supreme Court’s verdict on the reserved seats in the assemblies, but has also directed its legal team to identify hurdles, if any, in the apex court’s decision, in order to approach the top court for guidance in case of any issue — what appears to be an indication that the reserved seats allotment to the PTI in the assemblies may see further delay, this time on the pretext of legal hitches.

The decision was taken as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) met on the second consecutive day on Friday, after it failed to map out a course of action on the apex court’s verdict implementation a day earlier.

In a press release issued after the Friday meeting, the commission admitted that 39 of 80 Members National Assembly (MNAs) declared their affiliation with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) at the related forums (for February 8 general elections).

However, according to the commission, the remaining 41 candidates had declared themselves as independents in their nomination papers.

The poll body claimed that these 41 candidates joined Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) “willingly.” The SIC moved the SC against the related decisions of the ECP and Peshawar High Court (PHC) but its appeal was rejected, the ECP press release said.

“The PTI was not a party to this case in the SC, ECP, or PHC,” the press release added.

Without naming the SC, the ECP impliedly contradicted the assertion that it misinterpreted the apex court’s decision on PTI intra-party elections. This decision was upheld at different forums, the commission said, without naming the SC and PHC on this count. The commission said the bat was withdrawn from PTI as election symbol in “logical consequence” of its decision.

Additionally, without naming the PTI, the commission dismissed as “ridiculous” the demand from “a political party” seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, condemning what it termed was the “unwarranted” criticism on the CEC and ECP members.

A senior retired ECP official, requesting anonymity, said the commission’s statement that it decided to implement the top court’s decision in the reserved seats case gave the impression that the ECP had a choice whether or not to implement the decision - and that the commission decided to implement it.

“You cannot decide when it comes to the decisions of top courts. You don’ have a choice. You simply have to implement these decisions. The state institutions need to be very careful with the selection of words in their official handouts concerning the courts,” the former official told Business Recorder.

On July 12, in its landmark verdict in the reserved seats case, the top court decided in PTI’s favour, declaring it eligible for reserved seats in the assemblies.

The apex court declared that 39 of the 80 MNAs were shown as PTI members, as per ECP record, but remaining 41 were shown as independents.

The said 41 MNAs are required to confirm their party memberships to the ECP within 15 days, in the light of the SC order.

Keeping in view that the SC order on reserved seats was issued on July 12, the cut-off date for the 41 MNAs to confirm their PTI membership to the poll body within the stipulated 15-day period is July 27.

Till Friday evening, 38 of 41 MNAs were said to have submitted to the ECP the affidavits confirming their PTI memberships. The remaining three MNAs, who were reportedly abroad, are expected to submit the required affidavits soon.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024