Changes to election laws cannot undo reserved seats verdict: SC
The Supreme Court on Friday clarified that changes to the election laws could not undo its verdict in the reserved seats case.
On July 12, a 13-judge full bench of the apex court had declared that the opposition PTI was eligible to receive reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the national and provincial assemblies, dealing a major setback to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition and potentially making the PTI the single largest party in both houses of Parliament.
The Supreme Court had also declared the PTI a parliamentary party. The majority judgement explained that 39 out of the 80 MNAs, shown by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as PTI candidates, belonged to the party. The rest of the 41 independents would have to file duly signed and notarised statements before the commission within 15 days, explaining that they contested the February 8 general elections as a candidate of a particular political party.
The ECP had subsequently finally decided to implement the Supreme Court decision. Instructions were issued to the ECP’s legal team to identify obstacles in the implementation of the judgement so that further guidance could be sought from the top court. The ECP had later submitted its clarification request to the top court.
The Supreme Court had last month rebuked the “misconceived” ECP request and ordered the immediate implementation of its original directions.
More to follow.