The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday formally announced it is ready to implement the Supreme Court’s ruling granting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) reserved seats for women and minorities in Parliament—but indicated this may require clarification on some legal hurdles.
According to a statement issued by the electoral body after two days of deliberations, it has directed its legal team to identify any obstacles in the way of implementing the judgment so further guidance could be sought from the apex court. It also slammed the ongoing “unnecessary” criticism of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and the members of the commission by a political party—the PTI, which was not named—and described the demand for the CEC’s resignation as ludicrous.
“The [ECP] will not succumb to any kind of pressure and will continue to work according to the Constitution and law,” it said, while rejecting the Supreme Court’s observation that it had “misinterpreted” the decision that had validated the illegality of the PTI’s intra-party elections. It said it did not find PTI’s elections to be correct, recalling various forums had upheld the ECP decision that the party’s intra-party elections were not valid.
“And, as logical consequence, the ‘bat’ symbol was withdrawn under Section 215 of the Elections Act,” it said, noting that blaming the ECP for this was inappropriate.
The ECP statement said the two-day meeting had found that the 39 MNAs the Supreme Court had declared lawmakers of the PTI lacked the legal requirements to do so. It said these lawmakers had merely mentioned their party affiliation in their nomination papers, but the law required any candidate to both submit a party ticket and declaration to the returning officer concerned. In this scenario, it said, it was not possible for the returning officers to declare them PTI candidates.
“The 41 candidates who have been declared independent had neither mentioned PTI in their nomination papers nor disclosed their affiliation with the party. [They] also did not submit any party ticket. Therefore, the returning officers allowed them to participate in the election as independent candidates,” read the statement, adding these same MNAs had willingly joined the Sunni Ittehad Council within three days of their notification as returned candidates.
In the Supreme Court, noted the ECP, the SIC had appealed against the decisions of the electoral body and the Peshawar High Court. This appeal, it stressed, was rejected. “PTI was neither a party in the Election Commission nor before the Peshawar High Court or the Supreme Court,” it added.
Observers have warned that while the ECP’s decision suggests a willingness to implement the verdict, its hinting at seeking further guidance from the Supreme Court suggests hurdles remain. A key point of contention is the legal status of the incumbent PTI leadership, as the ECP has yet to validate its intra-party elections, leaving it officially leaderless.
Earlier this month, a split majority verdict set aside the PHC ruling upholding the ECP’s decision against granting reserved seats to the SIC. Eight judges of the full court bench declared the PTI a political party that had won general seats and was thus entitled to reserved seats. It then set a timeline of 15 days—12 more than the constitutionally mandated three—for PTI lawmakers who had joined the SIC to reverse their decision and pledge allegiance to the PTI once more.