ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has sought guidance from the Supreme Court (SC) regarding the implementation of its July 12 decision on reserved seats for 41 independent members.
Election Commission submitted an application to the SC Registrar’s Office, stating that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has no party structure in the commission records and that Barrister Gohar Ali Khan is not the party chairman.
It stated that 41 Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) had submitted their documents regarding party affiliation, indicating that PTI would confirm it. However, in the absence of any party structure in the ECP records, the commission did not know who would confirm the party affiliation of the independent members.
However, the ECP partially followed the SC decision on reserved seats by issuing a notice recognizing 39 elected candidates as PTI MNAs.
Regarding the ECP’s decision to ask for help from the SC, an official explained that the problem was the PTI had lost its party organization because it did not hold elections within the party. As a result of legal deficiencies in these intra-party polls, the ECP declared them invalid, leading to the loss of the party’s election symbol.
The 39 notified MNAs include Amjad Ali Khan, Sohail Sultan, Saleem Rehman, Muhammad Bashir Khan, Mehboob Shah, Junaid Akbar, Ali Khan Jadoon, Asad Qaiser, Shahram Khan, Anwar Taj, Fazal Muhammad Khan, Arbab Amir Ayub, Shandana Gulzar Khan, Mujahid Ali, Sher Ali Arbab, Asif Khan, Syed Shah Ahad Ali Shah, Shahid Khan, Nasim Ali Shah, and Sher Afzal Khan.
Similarly, those notified also include Usama Ahmed Mela, Shafqat Abbas, Ali Afzal Sahi, Rai Haider Ali Khan, Nisar Ahmed, Rana Atif, Changaze Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Ali Sarfraz, Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa, Rai Hassan Nawaz Khan, Khurram Shahzad Virk, Malik Muhammad Aamir Dogar, Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi, Mumtaz Mustafa, Muhammad Shabbir Ali Qureshi, Rana Muhammad Faraz Noon, Umber Majeed, Awais Haider Jakhar, and Zartaj Gul.
Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court (LHC) declared as null and void a verdict allowing the physical remand of PTI founder Imran Khan in 12 cases related to May 9.
A two-member bench, comprising Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh and Justice Anwarul Haq Pannu, reserved the verdict on the petitions challenging the former prime minister’s physical remand.
The high court also declared null and void the notification for the PTI founder’s appearance via video link. During the hearing, Justice Saleem stated that the suspect could not be forced to undergo a photogrammetry test.Meanwhile, Justice Pannu questioned the prosecutor about when he got the idea that “we should move towards modern devices now.”
