The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking the implementation of its July 12 short order in the reserved seats case, pending after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) sought clarity on executing some elements of the judgment.
Filed though counsel Uzair Bhandari, the petition has urged the apex court to dismiss the ECP’s petition, maintaining the elector body has wrongly suggested it is “facing difficulty to implement the order ibid as PTI at the moment has no organizational structure for confirmation of statements of MNAs/MPAs.”
Alleging the ECP’s application was filed with mala fide intentions, the PTI’s plea claims that electoral body is attempting to “circumvent and delay the implementation of the short order” by denying the party its “rightful share of the reserved seats.” Referring to the ECP’s objections to the PTI’s organizational structure—the electoral body has yet to validate the results of the PTI’s intra-party elections—the plea maintains the party has taken “all necessary steps and is in full compliance with the applicable law.”
To another objection of the ECP, the PTI notes that its intra-party elections were conducted on March 3, 2024 and Gohar Ali Khan was elected unopposed as the chairman, while Omar Ayub Khan was elected unopposed as general secretary. These details, it said, were submitted to the ECP on March 4. Since then, it noted, the ECP had referred to Gohar as “Chairman of the PTI” in various correspondence with the party.
In this regard, the plea has urged the Supreme Court to direct the ECP to accept the affidavits of allegiance filed by independent lawmakers and signed by Gohar and Omar in their capacity as leaders of the PTI. It further stresses on directing the ECP to implement the court’s July 12 short order.
In July, a majority verdict of the Supreme Court had dismissed a petition filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council seeking a share in reserved seats, granting them instead to the PTI, though it was not party to the case.