The National Assembly Secretariat on Friday annihilated the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) when it issued party position on the basis of Election Amendment Act. According to a National Assembly Secretariat notification, “All 80 members of the PTI are members of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).” Earlier, on the orders of the Supreme Court, 39 parliamentarians have been declared as members of the PTI and 41 of the SIC. It may be noted that a day ago, the National Assembly speaker wrote a letter to the Election Commission (ECP) giving reference to the Election Amendment Act. The assembly secretariat acted in a haste without waiting for the ECP reply and issued a new party position. According to the notification, the PML-N has 110 seats, the PPP 69 seats, the MQM 22 seats, the Q-League five and the IPP four. The Muslim League-Zia, the BAP and the National Party have one member each in the National Assembly.

The assembly secretariat mentioned that 80 members belonged to the SIC, eight to the JUI-F while the number of independent members is also 8. The PK-MAP, the BNP-Mengal and MWM have one seat each while an independent member has joined the PML-N. It is interesting to note that in case of implementation of the Election Act, 23 reserved seats will be distributed among the PML-N, the PPP and the JUI-F. Keeping in mind the number of elected members, 15 reserved seats will be given to the PML-N, five to the PPP and three to the JUI-F. It may be recalled that the Supreme Court, in a majority ruling on July 12, declared the PTI eligible for reserved seats despite an amended law barring independently elected candidates from joining political parties after a specific deadline.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan