ECP issues notifications for five PTI reserved seats
Following the Lahore High Court verdict, the Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday issued notifications for five reserved seats of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the Punjab Assembly.
The Election Commission has issued notifications of PTI’s Batool Zain Janjua, Saira Raza, Fouzia Abbas Naseem, notifications for two minority seats, Habkook Rafiq Babbu and Samuel Yaqoob for reserved seats has also been issued.
The Election Commission has summoned PTI’s preferred candidates Batool Janjua, Saira Raza and Fauzia Abbas to know the details of papers on women’s seats. The Election Commission had also summoned Habakkuk Rafiq and Samuel Yaqub for minority seats.
It is pertinent to mention that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on May 26 de-seated 25 dissident MPAs of the PTI who voted for PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz in the election for Punjab chief minister, stating that they had defected from the party.
The dissident lawmakers are Raja Sagheer Ahmed, Malik Ghulam Rasool Sangha, Saeed Akbar Khan, Mohammad Ajmal, Abdul Aleem Khan, Nazir Ahmed Chohan, Mohammad Amin Zulqernain, Malik Nauman Langrial, Mohammad Salman, Zawar Hussain Warraich, Nazir Ahmed Khan, Fida Hussain, Zahra Batool, Mohammad Tahir, Aisha Nawaz, Sajida Yousaf, Haroon Imran Gill, Uzma Kardar, Malik Asad Ali, Ijaz Masih, Mohammad Sabtain Raza, Mohsin Atta Khan Khosa, Mian Khalid Mehmood, Mehar Mohammad Aslam and Faisal Hayat.
A day earlier, The Lahore High Court (LHC) on directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to issue notification of the five reserved seats of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
LHC has issued a detailed 13-page judgment on five reserved seats in the Punjab Assembly.
In the context of the decision, if a seat becomes vacant due to disqualification of a member, it will be filled in accordance with Article 224 (6) of the Constitution.
In this regard, the question arises as to whether the quota of reserved seats will be re-drawn if members are de-seated in a large number of general seats.
The LHC further directed the Additional Registrar to immediately issue the order of the court to ECP.
Meanwhile, PTI has taken the stance that once the quota has been drawn after the general election, it cannot be changed later and there is no obstacle to fill the vacancies from the PTI’s priority list for reserved seats.
It is pertinent to mention here that the LHC had on June 27 approved PTI’s request to issue notifications for five reserved seats.