Election Committee of Pakistan (ECP) will announce today (Thursday) its decision on notification new MPA on five places of Punjab Assembly reserved for women and minorities after they became vacant after deposition of 25 dissident PTI legislators.
five persons bench will announce the decision that was reserved earlier today, in line with directives from the Lahore High Court (LHC).
Last month, 25 dissident PTI MPs, including five elected on seats are reserved for women and minorities, were deprived of their seats for vote for Hamza Shehbaz of PML-N in chief of the Punjab ministerelections. They have been officially de-notified by the ECP on May 23.
PTI filed a petition in TANK on May 28, asking to instruct the ECP to notify five new MPA and “call [them] personally.” Subsequently, the High Court gave the ECP a deadline for June 2 to decide on cause.
At an ECP hearing today, PTI attorney Faisal Chaudhry stated that the incumbent government in Punjab does not have a majority and therefore does not deserve rule.
He said that CEP should “immediately” issue notifications for new MPA on reserved seats and argued that, in accordance with the Constitution new MRA will be from the same party the previous ones were taken off.
Meanwhile, PML-N counsel Khalid Ishaq argued that the point was that of a “first impression” and principle of proportional representation cannot be ignored.
He asked the electoral commission to notify new MPA in conformity with in current proportion in Punjab Assembly.
For his part, the Attorney General of Pakistan Ashtar Awsaf argued that the principle of proportional representation could not be applied until the Assembly was “complete”.
“twenty of PTI seats were reduced, after which they cannot have the same proportion. Nobody can tell which party will be successful in by-elections”.
Osaf said it would”more appropriate,” if the ECP had waited for a by-election.
Subsequently, the Electoral Commission reserved the right decision.
ECP Displaces Dissident MPAs
votes of 25 PTI dissidents played an important role in help Hamza get over line in elections for Main minister; he received total of 197 votes while 186 votes are required for simple majority.
The dissident MPs were Raja Sakhir Ahmed, Malik Ghulam Rasul Sangha, Saeed Akbar Khan, Mohammad Ajmal, Abdul Alim Khan, Nazir Ahmed Chohan, Mohammad Amin Zulkernain, Malik Nauman Langreal, Mohammad Salman, Zawar Hussain Warraikh, Nazir Ahmed Khan, Fida Hussain, Zahra Batul, Mohammad Tahir, Aisha Nawaz, Sajida Yusuf, Harun Imran Gill, Uzma Kardar, Malik Asad Ali, Ijaz Masih, Mohammad Sabtain Raza, Mohsin Atta Khan Khosa, Mian Khalid Mehmood, Mehar Mohammad Aslam and Faisal Hayat.
On May 20, the election monitoring service issued an order for the resignation of these deputies, stating that they had defected from party under Article 63-A of Constitution that prohibits deputies from voting against in party line in elections of prime minister and chief minister, in a vote of confidence or a no-confidence bill to amend the constitution and money bill.
PTI petition
In the application filed in TANK on May 28, PTI parliamentary leader. in Punjab Assembly Mohammad Sibtein Khan stated that in accordance with Article 104 (5) of Electoral Law 2017, “If a seat is reserved for women or non-Muslims in The meeting becomes vacant as result of deathresignation or disqualification of member, it must be filled in through next human in order of priority from partyx list of candidates submitted to the Commission.
The petition stated that Khan presented the party with a priority list, according to which Batul Janjua, Saira Raza and Fuziya Abbas were next in line for women places, while Habcook Gill and Samuel Yacoub were nominated for minority places.
However, the defendants – ECP, Chief Electoral Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja and the Punjab Provincial Electoral Commission – did not notify them as members, the petition says.
“Ladies and Minorities who are on a priority list have again as well as again contacted the respondents and presented their declarations on the results of the elections rules but respondents do not want to receive documents and do not notify them.”
The petition stated that Khan also appealed to the regional electoral commission on May 23 and 25 to accept declarations list and documents and forward this to the chief electoral commissioner, but “the defendant resists and does not listen to a legitimate request.”
