ISLAMABAD: The PTI decided to join the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), which was reorganized to include lawmakers in light of the 26th amendment, on Monday after filing a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against the non-implementation of its July 12 ruling in the reserved seats case.
Omar Ayub, the head of the PTI and the opposition leader in the National Assembly, presided over a parliamentary party meeting where the decision was reached. Strict measures against party members who allegedly betrayed the party and its leadership were also decided upon at the conference.
Notably, the PTI recently sent parliamentarians Aslam Ghumman, Miqdad Ali Khan, Riaz Fatyana, and Zain Qureshi show-cause notices for breaking party rules prior to the 26th amendment’s ratification.
The PTI meeting authorized the schedule of public meetings and protests in addition to supporting the political committee’s decision. According to specifics, the PTI conference examined the current state of affairs following the ratification of the 26th Constitutional Amendment and explored several alternatives, including pursuing legal action, to contest the new law.
The meeting’s attendees believed that the government had imprisoned Imran Khan for “political gains.” It should be mentioned that the PTI leader has been incarcerated for over a year.
However, during the National Assembly session, PTI MP Asad Qaiser criticized the change, claiming it was accepted in a “unethical and illegal way.” “Our lawmakers were under pressure, threatened, and had their kids taken into custody. Every attempt was made to get their votes. The way Bilawal Bhutto got involved is beyond me. Legislators’ homes were demolished, and their property was taken over, he said.
Make a case against CEC
PTI leader Kanwal Shauzab filed a contempt of court petition earlier in the day against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja and four Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) members for failing to abide by the Supreme Court’s July 12 ruling in the case involving reserved seats.
The appeal, which was filed through Advocate Salman Akram Raja, pleaded that the Supreme Court had ordered the ECP to take action in preparation for the election of seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan and the provincial assemblies that were designated for women and non-Muslims in its July 12 ruling.
The directives were given to make sure that, when allocating the reserved seats, the seats that the PTI won in the general elections held on February 8th in accordance with the specific conclusions and processes outlined in the Supreme Court’s ruling were taken into consideration.
Given the decision, the contempt suit contended that the Supreme Court had also issued two explanations in accordance with the verdict, which made it abundantly clear that the PTI was entitled to the reserved seats in proportion to the seats in the national and provincial assemblies.
The petition said that the ECP had not yet implemented the July 12 ruling and finished the process of electing women and non-Muslims to the national and provincial assembly’ reserved seats.
The CEC and the four members of the ECP were subject to proceedings for contempt of the Supreme Court’s ruling due to their willful and disruptive failure to act in conformity with the ruling.
judgment on reserved seats
The court ruled in the July 12 judgment that 39 of the 80 MNAs were PTI members, according to the majority ruling of eight justices. Within 15 days, the remaining 41 independent candidates were required to submit properly signed and notarized affidavits to the commission outlining their candidacies for the general elections on February 8 as members of a certain political party. Thus far, the statements have been submitted.
If such a statement was submitted, ECP would notify the relevant political party within seven days and ask them to affirm within fifteen days that MNAs ran as their candidates.
Following that, ECP will submit a compliance report to the SC and publish a list of the returned candidates on its website in accordance with Article 51 of the Constitution.
