In a fix over how to proceed on Supreme Court’s detailed verdict in the reserved seats case after the newly-enacted Election Act Amendment Bill 2024, the Election Commission of Pakistan has submitted two more petitions in the apex court, seeking stay on its July 12 order.
In its 70-page detailed judgment issued on Sept 23, the apex court termed the PTI “a political party” and eligible for the seats’ reserved for women and minorities.
The electoral watchdog, a day earlier, approached the top 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. The ECP 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. 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. Besides civil miscellaneous petition, the Election Commission also filed two other petitions for review concerning the ‘clarification order’ and seeking stay with regard to the July 12 order’s implementation till the pleas were decided, it emerged on Friday (today). Through the petitions, the commission sought SC’s guidance with respect to the effect of the Elections (Second) Amendment Act, 2024 on the short order of the apex court of July 12, clarification order dated Sept 14 and detailed judgment dated Sept 23 in the interest of justice.
The ECP, in its petition, noted the apex court’s reserved seats verdict was based on “assumptions”, adding: “It cannot rewrite the Constitution on pretext of interpretation.”
