Skip to main content

ECP still in a fix over SC verdict on reserved seats

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is still undecided on the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict regarding the eligibility of PTI for reserved seats and has decided to seek opinion of legal experts on the matter.


Sources told Dawn the ECP met here to deliberate on the Supreme Court’s judgement on reserved seats and its September 14 order in response to the clarification sought by the commission.


In its latest order, the top court has sought immediate implementation of its majority judgement in the reserved seats case and warned of consequences if this was not done.


During the meeting, the ECP law wing, while raising legal questions, maintained that the PTI had no organisational structure. The law wing also referred to a controversial election law, apparently aimed at circumventing the Supreme Court verdict on reserved seats and sap the expected strength of PTI in parliament, bulldozed through both houses of parliament last month.



Decides to seek opinion of legal experts; gives PTI ten more days to submit documents related to party polls



Under the amendment, a political party will not be allocated seats reserved for women and non-Muslim candidates if they fail to submit their list for the reserved seats within the prescribed time.








The law, designed to have retrospective effect, also provides that candidates should be considered independent lawmakers if they had not filed a declaration with the returning officer about their affiliation with a particular political party before seeking the allotment of a poll symbol.


The amendments to sections 66 and 104 of the Elections Act also included provisos declaring that the proposed amendments would take precedence over court orders, including the Supreme Court.


Following the briefing by the legal team, the ECP decided to consult legal experts on the reserved seats’ verdict.


A source said the ECP will meet again on Thursday for consultations with legal experts at 11am.


Intra-party polls


Meanwhile, the ECP gave 10 more days to PTI to submit documents related to its intra-party elections and adjourned the hearing till October 2.


A three-member bench, headed by ECP Member from Sindh Nisar Ahmed Durrani, heard the case.








During the hearing, when the ECP member from Balochistan questioned whether PTI’s intra-party elections were conducted in Chamkani, Peshawar, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said the elections took place in Islamabad.


An ECP official, during the hearing, warned that the PTI could face an uncertain future without an organisational structure, if the results of the intra-party elections were not recognised.


He also said that under Section 208 of the Elections Act, there should have been a five-year gap between two intra-party elections.


Later, talking to reporters outside the ECP, Barrister Gohar sought ECP’s orders to get back the documents taken away by FIA during a raid on PTI office.


Stressing that his party conducted most transparent elections, he regretted that the ECP was finding faults with the exercise while it overlooks deficiencies in the elections held by other political parties.


The ECP also heard the intra-party elections case against JUI-F and reserved its judgement after the party sought two more months to complete the exercise.


When the JUI-F lawyer sought 60 days, the chief election commissioner warned that poll symbol can be withdrawn and a party can be de-notified over failure to hold intra-party elections.


Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2024


http://dlvr.it/TDQDRz

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pragmatic steps taken to implement Axle Load Control regime on NH&MP

Islamabad: Ministry of Communications has taken pragmatic steps to implement the Axle Load Control regime on Motorways & National Highways in the country. Sole objective of this move is to control travelling of overloaded vehicles which lead to fatal accidents besides damaging the national asset of road network of billions of rupees.Prior to implementation of axle load control regime, a technical committee was formed, consisting of officers from Ministry of Communications and National Highway Authority which remained in constant contacts with transport community, Members of the Chambers of Commerce and stakeholders hailing from all the provinces. This technical committee visited their offices and held detailed discussions in series of meetings and took them into confidence to facilitate implementation of Axle Load Control regime. The stakeholders assured of their full cooperation and subsequently, implementation of Axle Load Control was realized which is in progress.It is worth to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

CJP questions how ‘clarification order’ made it to website

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa has raised nine questions in a letter to the Supreme Court’s registrar, seeking clarification on how a Sept 14 clarification order was uploaded to the top court’s website. The Sept 14 order, issued by eight judges led by senior puisne judge Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, criticised the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for failing to implement the Supreme Court’s July 12 judgement, which declared the PTI eligible for reserved seats in parliament. In his letter dated Sept 21, the CJP wondered who directed the uploading of the Sept 14 clarification order on the Supreme Court’s website. His inquiry followed a note from the Deputy Registrar (Judicial), who flagged the issue of the order’s appearance on the website. The note questioned how the order was uploaded when no cause list had been issued, no notices had been sent to the parties, and the order had not been received by the deputy registrar’s office until 8pm on the...
Post a Comment
Read more

UN awards 2 Pakistani female peacekeepers for gender advocacy

The United Nations has awarded two Pakistani female peacekeepers with the Gender Advocacy Award for their “outstanding performance”, a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. In a statement issued on Thursday, the ISPR said the awards were presented to Major Sania Safdar, part of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Cyprus, and Major Komal Masood, who served in the Central African Republic, “for their outstanding performance and commitment in promoting the ideals of UN”. The accolades were presented by the under-secretary general in the UN’s Department for Peace Operations at its New York headquarters. “While serving in [an] international environment, both officers demonstrated exceptional professionalism [and] dedication,” the ISPR noted. It added that the two peacekeepers “made [a] significant contribution to Mission’s Peace and Stability efforts, especially with regards to advancing women’s meaningful participation in Peacekeeping Operations within the ...
Post a Comment
Read more