ECP actually rebuts SC decision

ISLAMABAD: The ECP has though announced that it will implement the Supreme Court’s recent order relating to allocation of reserved seats, the press release issued by the Commission actually is a clear rebuttal of the apex court’s decision.

The SC during the hearing of the case and also in its judgment had said that the ECP by misinterpreting the judgment of this court dated Jan 13, 2024, which was regarding non-holding of intra-party elections in PTI, had wrongly mentioned the said candidates of the PTI as independents.

The ECP’s press release, issued on Friday after two days of deliberations on the SC order, said that the Commission did not misinterpret any decision. It said that the Commission had declared the PTI’s intra-party election as invalid against which the political party had approached different forums but the Commission’s decision was upheld.

The Commission, while sticking to its decision, said that since the PTI’s intra-party elections were not declared valid by the Commission, therefore, as a logical consequence and as per Election Act the election symbol of “bat” was withdrawn.

The ECP press release without referring to Para 7 and Para 8 of the SC majority judgment, stated its position besides pointing out that the PTI was neither a party in Sunni Ittehad Council’s appeal before the Election Commission nor before the Peshawar High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The following are the Para 7 and Para 8 of the SC’s majority judgment:

“7. In the peculiar facts and circumstances of the General Election of 2024, it is declared that out of the aforesaid 80 returned candidates (now MNAs) those (being 39 in all and whose particulars are set out in Annex A to this Order) in respect of whom the Commission has shown “PTI” in any one of the aforesaid columns in the List, were and are the returned candidates whose seats were and have been secured by the PTI within the meaning, and for purposes of, para 5 above in relation to the Article 51 Provisions.

8. In the peculiar facts and circumstances of the General Election of 2024, it is further ordered that any of the remaining 41 returned candidates out of the aforesaid 80 (whose particulars are set out in Annex B to this Order) may, within 15 working days of this Order file a statement duly signed and notarized stating that he or she contested the General Election as a candidate of the political party specified therein. If any such statement(s) is/are filed, the Commission shall forthwith but in any case within 7 days thereafter give notice to the political party concerned to file, Civil Appeal No. 333 of 2024 etc. 6 within 15 working days, a confirmation that the candidate contested the General Election as its candidate.

A political party may in any case, at any time after the filing of a statement as aforesaid, of its own motion file its confirmation. If such a statement is filed, and is confirmed by the political party concerned, then the seat secured by such candidate shall be forthwith deemed to be a seat secured by that political party for the purposes of para 5 above in relation to the Article 51 Provisions. The Commission shall also forthwith issue, and post on its website, a list of the returned candidates (now MNAs) and seats to which this para applies within 7 days after the last date on which a political party may file its confirmation and shall simultaneously file a compliance report in the Court.``

In response to Para 7, the ECP in its press release said that the 39 MNAs, who have been declared PTI MNAs (by the Supreme Court), had shown their affiliation with the PTI in the nomination papers but they had not submitted the party ticket or declaration with the Returning Officer which was mandatory. The Commission added that in this situation it was not possible for the Returning Officers to declare such candidates as PTI candidates.

In response to Para 8 of the SC’s judgment, the ECP press release said that those 41 candidates, who were declared independent, had neither mentioned PTI in their nomination papers nor declared their affiliation with the PTI. None of these candidates submitted party tickets. The ECP said that for the same reason, the Returning Officer allowed them to contest elections as independent candidates.

The ECP further said that as per the law, within three days of their notification as returned candidate they voluntarily joined the Sunni Ittehad Council. The SIC had approached the SC against the decisions of the ECP and PHC. The SIC’s appeal was dismissed, the commission said, adding that the PTI was neither a party in this case before the ECP nor in the PHC and the SC.