LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Thursday issued fresh notices to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for July 18 on an intra-court appeal (ICA) of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) against a decision wherein the ECP was directed to notify the members of the PTI on five reserved seats in the Punjab Assembly.

Earlier, the Advocate General of Punjab (AGP) informed the court that notices had not been served to the respondents. At this, the court issued fresh notices to the ECP and PTI MPA Sibtain Khan, also opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly. The bench directed the Assembly secretary to ensure service of the notice to the respondent MPA.

A single bench had allowed a petition of the PTI and ordered the ECP to issue a notification of the new MPAs on the reserved seats following the disqualification of 25 MPAs over defection during the election of Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz. The order of the single bench has also been complied with by the ECP. The appeal of the PML-N argued that the impugned judgment by the single bench is a violation of Articles 106(3)(c) and 224(6) of the Constitution. It said the reserved seats in the provincial assembly are allotted based on the number of general seats secured by each political party. It further argued that once fresh election/by-poll for the general seats had taken place, only then the quota of reserved seats be recalculated and the vacant reserved seats be filled to truly reflect the strength of the political parties through proportional representation.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022