President Asif Ali Zardari signed the 'controversial' Election Act Amendment Bill 2024 which becomes a law. The gazette notification will be issued today (Thursday) as the bill has been sent to the Senate Secretariat. The Senate passed the Election Act Amendment Bill by a majority vote despite protest by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Aug 6. As the session started with Yousuf Raza Gilani in the chair, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Talal Chaudhry presented the Election Act Amendment Bill. The opposition members stood on their seats and started protest. The amendment provides that “a candidate who does not submit the party certificate before obtaining the election symbol will be considered an independent candidate. If the list of candidates for reserved seats is not submitted within the specified period, no political party will be entitled to those seats.” It also provides that any candidate's declaration of affiliation to a political party will be irrevocable.

PTI CHALLENGES THE BILL 

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday moved the apex court against the Election Act Amendment Bill. The decision was taken a day after the government passed the Election Act Amendment Bill 2024 to deny the PTI reserved seats after the Supreme Court verdict. PTI chief Barrister Gohar Ali Khan approached the Supreme Court through Advocate Salman Akram Raja while making the federal government and the Election Commission of Pakistan respondents in the application. The application said the PTI had submitted its candidates’ list to the ECP and it must be given the reserved seats in line with the SC July 12 verdict.

ECP FILES REVIEW PLEA 

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), on the other hand, filed a review petition regarding the Supreme Court's decision on reserved seats in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) favour. Last month, a 13-member full court bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa delivered a verdict on the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) petition related to reserved seats. Justices Aminuddin Khan and Naeem Afghan had dissented from the majority decision. The Supreme Court had annulled the decisions of the Peshawar High Court and the Election Commission, ordering that the reserved seats be allocated to the PTI.

ECP'S EARLIER STANCE

Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decided to act upon the Supreme Court decision regarding reserved seats for the PTI candidates. The decision was taken after a series of meetings presided over by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja. The ECP chief advised its legal team to take into account the imperative to act on the apex court's decision.

A LANDMARK VERDICT

Going against the grain of its previous decisions regarding the PTI in the run-up to Feb 8 election, the apex court overturned the Peshawar High Court's verdict of depriving the PTI of the reserved seats of non-Muslim and women candidates in assemblies. The apex court, in its majority 8-5 decision, announced that the conduct of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) regarding the reserved seats was 'unconstitutional', adding that the PTI would remain intact as a political party even without being assigned an election symbol.

The verdict was authored by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah.

Justices Athar Minallah, Mansoor Ali Shah, Muneeb Akhtar, Ayesha Malik, Irfan Saadat, Shahid Waheed, Hassan Azhar Rizvi and Ali Mazhar decided in favour of the PTI. Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Jamal Mandokhail, Justice Naeem Afghan and Justice Aminuddin Khan favoured against the PTI. Besides, Justice Yahya Afridi wrote a dissenting note.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan