Pakistan – The National Assembly Secretariat has issued the fresh list of party position, unveiling 80 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNAs now appearing under the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) after the recent verdict from the Supreme Court (SC) on PTI’s reserved seats that allowed the party to regain its women and non-Muslim seats in both national and provincial assemblies.
July had in store a significant pronouncement from the Supreme Court that made PTI eligible for the reserved seats, and so it got a new lease of life in the legislature. Then followed another criticism from SC over ECP’s failure to implement its July 12 order effectively. That only complicated the task of the PML-N-led coalition government that’s desperately trying to get the vote through for its controversial Constitutional Package relating to judicial reforms.
The Supreme Court reaffirmed that among the 80 MNAs, 41 members would be part of PTI, and consequently, their status in both national and provincial assemblies would be saved. The ECP had already notified 39 of these PTI MNAs but still to determine the remaining 41.
However, on September 18, the National Assembly Secretariat published a revised list that reflected the “actual party positions,” and all 80 MNAs were put under SIC. Alongside the MNAs on support of PTI, eight independent lawmakers were reported to be under support from PTI. The total number of seats in National Assembly is 336, out of them 313 are currently occupied so there are 23 either vacant or in dispute.
These challenged seats were handed over to PML-N, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) as the ECP had decided in March that SIC is not eligible for reserved seats.
Other party standings in the updated National Assembly list are PML-N 110, PPP 69, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan 22, JUI-F 8, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid 5, Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party 4, and one seat for each of Pakistan Muslim League-Zia, Balochistan Awami Party, National Party, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Balochistan National Party-Mengal, and Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen.
The update comes a day after NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq forwarded a letter to the ECP insisting that the Supreme Court’s judgment on reserved seats could not be implemented under the amended Election Act of 2017. He urged the ECP to respect parliamentary laws as switching parties is not allowed under the amended Election Act in the case of independent lawmakers. He further claimed the SC decision on July 12 is in variance with the ammended Election Act, which, as he believes, must overrule.
The ECP has still not taken any final call on implementing the SC ruling. The sources close to the matter say a meeting was held to deliberate the SC judgment and its subsequent clarification in the context of implementation on September 14.