SC clarifies changes to election laws cannot undo reserved seats verdict

The Supreme Court on Friday clarified that changes to the election laws could not undo its verdict in the reserved seats case.More to follow.

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The Supreme Court on Friday clarified that changes to the election laws could not undo its verdict in the reserved seats case. On July 12, a 13-judge full bench of the apex court had declared that the opposition PTI was eligible to receive reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the national and provincial assemblies, dealing a major setback to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition and potentially making the PTI the single largest party in both houses of Parliament. The Supreme Court had also declared the PTI a parliamentary party.

The majority judgement explained that 39 out of the 80 MNAs, shown by the Election Commission of Pakistan (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 subsequently finally decided to implement the Supreme Court decision.



Instructions were issued to the ECP’s legal team to identify obstacles in the implementation of the judgement so that further guidance could be sought from the top court. The ECP had later submitted its clarification request to the top court. The Supreme Court had last month rebuked the “misconceived” ECP request and ordered the immediate implementation of its original directions.

Amid all this, the controversial The Election (Second Amendment) Bill 2024 seeking to bar the PTI-backed ‘independent’ legislators from joining the party was rushed through parliament in August. Based on the changes to the election law, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq had sent a letter to the ECP last month saying that judgment on reserved seats “cannot be implemented under the Amended Election Act, 2017”. This had caused the ECP to once again approach the apex court seeking clarification on its order to grant reserved seats to the PTI, arguing that it could not implement the orders due to the amendments to the election act.

More to follow..