ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has once again approached the Supreme Court to seek its guidance whether to follow amended Election Act 2017 or its judgment on the matter of allocating reserved seats to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
In its plea on Thursday, the top electoral authority mentioned the National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq’s letter stating that amendments were made to the Election Act after the top court’s verdict declaring the opposition party eligible for the reserved seats.
It is worth mentioning here that Speaker Sadiq had told the ECP in his letter that the apex court’s July 12 ruling was “incapable of implementation” after the amendments to Election Act 2017.
The ECP sought SC’s advice on whether to prioritise the amended Election Act or the detailed verdict to resolve the reserved seats’ row.
It also informed the SC that denotified lawmakers had also approached to seek implementation of the amended law and the ECP implemented the court order to the extent of 39 Members of the National Assembly (MNAs).
The amended act has been applied retroactively with modified laws relating to reserved seats, the ECP stated.
It added that the court gave clear verdicts that parliament’s wisdom could not be reviewed, therefore, it would be a question mark if the Election Act is not implemented in view of the court orders.
This is a developing story and is being updated with more details.
