LHC directs ECP to notify MPAs on Punjab Assembly reserved seats

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to notify the PTI members on five reserved seats of the Punjab Assembly that fell vacant after the ECP had denotified PTI’s 25 defected MPAs whose votes got Hamza Shehbaz elected as Punjab chief minister.

After the said LHC verdict, now the PTI number in the Punjab assembly is 163, PMLN 165, PPP 7, PMLQ 10, Independents 5 and Rah-e-Haq party 1. The ruling coalition will remain after the notification of five members.

As many as 20 seats are vacant on which by-polls will be held on July 17 to complete the 371-strong House. Earlier, on June 3, the ECP had rejected the PTI and PMLN petitions, and stayed the notification of new MPAs on five seats of Punjab Assembly reserved for women and minorities, until the by-polls on them are held on July 17.

After which, the PTI had filed a petition in the LHC seeking court directions for the ECP to notify the five new MPAs. The petition was moved by Zainab Umair, wife of PTI MPA Umair Khan Niazi, stating that according to Article 104 (5) of the Election Act 2017, "where a seat reserved for women or non-Muslims in an Assembly falls vacant as a result of death, resignation or disqualification of a member, it shall be filled in by the next person in order of precedence from the party's list of candidates submitted to the commission.”

It said that the party list was already in the possession of ECP; therefore, it was needed that ECP issue the notifications to the declared/elected MPAs for the five reserved seats. On Monday, PTI counsel Barrister Ali Zafar argued that the ECP was bound to notify PTI members on the reserved seats after de-seating the defecting parliamentarians. The counsel argued that the lists provided by political parties were not subject to change.

The stance of the ECP was illegal that denotification of 20 members had changed the total number of seats for each party. However, Punjab Advocate General Shahzad Shaukat opposed Ali Zafar’s stance saying that nominations on reserved seats were supposed to be held after the general polls. He argued that now, the positions of parties have changed because of 20 vacant seats. I believe the matter should be taken to a larger bench, Shaukat added.

The court, after hearing the arguments of both parties, directed the electoral body to issue a notification regarding the reserved seats and declared its previous decision on the matter as null and void.