The Election Commission of Pakistan has notified the 93 lawmakers in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh assemblies as “returned candidates” of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, in line with the Supreme Court’s July 12 order in the reserved seats case, resurrecting the embattled party in parliament.
These members, 93 from the provincial assemblies and 39 from the National Assembly, had shown their affiliation with the party in their documents submitted to the election commission ahead of the general elections.
Earlier Monday, the ECP uploaded the notification on its website, according to which, 29 PTI lawmakers from the Punjab assembly and 58 others from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly have been notified as the PTI’s members while six MPAs from Sindh also have been declared as members of the PTI.
These PTI members contested the February 8 elections as independent candidates and later joined the Sunni Ittehad Council on the party’s instruction in a bid to receive reserved seats as independents are not allowed under law to get reserved seats.
Following the SC directives, the electoral body held multiple sessions to deliberate on the verdict and announced to execute the top court’s ruling.