NA secretariat list shows 80 PTI MNAs as SIC lawmakers despite SC reserved seats verdict
The National Assembly Secretariat has shown 80 PTI MNAs as part of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) in an updated list of the actual party positions in parliament’s lower house after accounting for the Supreme Court’s (SC) verdict in the reserved seats’ case, it emerged on Friday.
In July, the top court declared the PTI eligible to receive reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the national and provincial assemblies, giving it a new lease on life in the legislature by declaring it a parliamentary party.
The SC dealt a further major blow to the PML-N-led coalition government on Saturday, as it reprimanded the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for not implementing its July 12 judgement, further complicating the Shehbaz Sharif-led administration’s efforts to secure the required numbers to pass a controversial Constitutional Package related to the judiciary.
The SC clarified that as per the position, 41 returned candidates, out of a total of 80 MNAs, would remain members of the PTI and, consequently, members of the PTI’s parliamentary party in both the national and provincial assemblies, for all constitutional and legal purposes. The ECP had already notified 39 of the lawmakers as PTI MNAs but was undecided on the remaining 41.
However, a list from the NA Secretariat dated September 18 (Wednesday), available with Dawn.com, reflecting the “actual party position” after the July 12 verdict showed the 80 MNAs to be part of the SIC.
The list showed eight seats for PTI-backed independents. It said that there were a total of 336 seats in the NA with 313 lawmakers and 23 vacant or disputed seats that were to be allocated to the PTI.
The disputed seats were those that were originally allocated to the PML-N, PPP, and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) after the ECP had ruled in March that the SIC was not entitled to claim quota for reserved seats.
Meanwhile, the positions for the other parties are as follows: PML-N (110), PPP (69), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (22), JUI-F (8), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (5), Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (4) and one each for the Pakistan Muslim League-Zia, Balochistan Awami Party, National Party, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Balochistan National Party-Mengal and Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen.
The list by the NA Secretariat surfaced a day after NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq wrote a letter to the ECP, stating that the judgment on reserved seats “cannot be implemented under the Amended Election Act, 2017”.
Sadiq had urged the body to honour laws made by parliament, insisting that the amended Elections Act prevents independent lawmakers from switching parties.
He had alleged that the Supreme Court’s July 12 ruling enabled a candidate to switch political parties and argued that this went against the amended Elections Act, which he said now has overriding authority.
The ECP has remained undecided on the implementation of SC’s verdict and held a meeting to deliberate on the apex court’s judgment and its September 14 order in response to the clarification sought by the commission, sources had told Dawn.