ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has de-notified the legislative memberships of 25 dissident members of provincial assembly (MPAs) in Punjab Assembly, belonging to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), for voting against the party policy in the election of chief minister Punjab last month.
In this context, three separate notifications issued by ECP on Monday de-notified the 20 MPAs who were elected on general seats, three MPAs elected on reserved seats for women and two MPAs elected on reserved seats for non-Muslims.
The de-notified legislators are Raja Sagheer Ahmed, Malik Ghulam Rasool Sangha, Saeed Akbar Khan, Muhammad Ajmal, Faisal Hayat, Mehar Aslam, Mian Khalid Mehmood, Aleem Khan, Nazir Chohan, Malik Asad, Amin Zulqarnain, Malik Nauman Langrial, Muhammad Salman, Zawar Hussain Warraich, Nazir Ahmad Khan, Fida Hussain, Zahra Batool, Sibtain Raza, Muhammad Tahir, Mohsin Atta Khosa, Uzma Kardar, Aisha Nawaz, Sajida Yousaf, Ijaz Masih and Haroon Imran Gill.
Constitutionally, by-elections are held within 60 days on any general seat from the date of it having fallen vacant whereas reserved seats are filled on the basis of priority lists provided to ECP by the respective political parties.
ECP de-seats PTI dissident MPAs who voted for Hamza as Punjab CM
Earlier on Friday, the ECP de-seated 25 PTI MPAs who voted for Hamza Shehbaz in the election of CM Punjab against their party policy last month, declaring this act as “worst form of betraying the electorate and party’s policy.”
The decision was reserved last Tuesday. The ECP was scheduled to announce it on Wednesday but deferred it till Friday apparently after the issuance of the Supreme Court’s decision regarding 20 dissident members National Assembly (MNAs).
On May 11, ECP dismissed cases against PTI’s 20 dissident MNAs, terming these cases “devoid of force,” which, the commission said, “cannot be entertained at this belated stage.”
The case against one PTI dissident MPA Javed Akhtar was dismissed on the grounds that he did not cast vote in the election of PM Punjab whereas the remaining 25 MPAs were de-seated.
The dissident PTI MNAs took the stance that, unlike the dissident party MPAs who voted in the CM Punjab election last month against the party’s direction, they did not participate in voting on the no-confidence motion against the then Prime Minister Imran Khan last month nor did they join any other political party.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022