The National Assembly Secretariat on Friday updated the party position, effectively removing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as a political party from the lower house of Pakistani parliament.
Following a letter from the Speaker to the Election Commission regarding the Election Amendment Act, the new party position was outlined and notified.
All 80 PTI members are now listed as part of the Sunni Ittehad Council. Previously, 39 members were recognized as PTI and 41 as independents following a Supreme Court order on July 12. The apex court had concluded in its interim order that ECP has recognized PTI as a political party and MNAs who filed party ticket before the electoral body before the February 8 elections should be considered as PTI’s members.
The revised party position issued on Friday also includes details about the seats reclaimed from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI). The update was made immediately after the Speaker’s correspondence with the Election Commission.
Under the new composition, PML-N has 110 seats, Sunni Ittehad Council has 80 seats, PPP has 69 seats, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has 22 seats, JUI-F has eight seats, Independents have eight seats, Pakistan Muslim League-Q has five seats, Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) has four seats, and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMap), Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP), Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) have one seat each.
If the Election Act is implemented, 23 reserved seats will be allocated to the PML-N, PPP, and JUI, with PML-N receiving 15, PPP getting 5, and JUI receiving 3 reserved seats.
The move appears to neutralize the Supreme Court’s July 12 ruling. The judgment, hailed as a landmark by the PTI, has not been implemented and ECP sought an explanation from the top court.
Eight judges who were on the 13-member bench that presided over the matter, issued an explanation earlier this week in response to an ECP inquiry and sought quick implementation of the court order.
The ECP has held at least three meetings so far this week without reaching any conclusion. As the electoral body deliberated the matter, it received on Thursday a letter from the National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, who said the SC judgment must be implemented in view of the amendment made to the Election Act 2017.
The parliament amended the election act after July 12 judgment barring MPs from changing political party. The ruling PMLN argues that SC’s July 12 judgment allowed Sunni Ittehad Council MNAs to switch to PTI and that such a move was against the law. The recent amendment to Election Act only removed any doubt on switching parties, they said.
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