LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday instructed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to notify PTI members on five reserved seats of the Punjab Assembly (PA) that fell vacant following the de-seating of 25 of the party’s MPAs over defection.
Last month, 25 PTI dissident lawmakers, which included five elected on seats reserved for women and minorities, were de-seated for voting for PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz in the Punjab chief minister’s election. They were officially de-notified by the ECP on May 23.
The PTI had filed a petition in the LHC on May 28 requesting it to direct the ECP to notify the five new MPAs and “summon [them] personally”. Subsequently, the high court had given the ECP a deadline for June 2 to decide on the matter.
The electoral watchdog had, however, decided that the notification would be stayed until by-elections were held.
Arguments made in the case today
During the open court hearing today, PTI’s lawyer Faisal Chaudhry argued that the electoral body was bound to notify PTI members on the reserved seats after de-seating defecting members.
“The list provided by political parties are not subject to changes,” he said, recalling that when the party had approached the ECP for the notification it had said that the vacant seats had changed the total seats of the party.
The lawyer contended that this stance by the commission was “illegal”.
For his part, Punjab Advocate General Shehzad Shoukat said that elections on reserved seats were supposed to be held after the general polls. “Now, the positions of parties have changed because of 20 vacant seats.
“I believe the matter should be taken to a larger bench,” he added.
Subsequently, the LHC stopped the ECP from issuing the notification and declared it “null and void”.