Daily Times

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to implement the Supreme Court’s order on allotting reserved seats to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

In a major legal victory for the PTI and a setback for the rulers, the apex court had on July 12 ruled that PTI was and is a political party that won general seats in the national and provincial assemblies in the February 8 elections, thus, is entitled to reserved seats.

The court, by a majority of 8, set aside the Peshawar High Court’s judgement of March 25 and declared the ECP order of March 1 to be ultra vires the Constitution, without lawful authority and of no legal effect.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah of the SC’s full bench announced the 8-5 majority verdict, nullifying the PHC’s order wherein it had upheld the ECP’s decision denying the reserved seats to the PTI-backed SIC.

In a statement, the ECP said the decision was taken after the electoral body held two meetings on Thursday and Friday to deliberate on the reserved seats case verdict.

The statement further said that directives have been issued to the ECP’s legal team to immediately “identify” any obstacle in the implementation of the verdict so that the apex court could be approached for guidance.

“Moreover, the commission strongly condemned and rejected the undue criticism of the chief election commissioner and honourable members by a political party,” the ECP’s said without naming the Imran Khan-founded party. “Demanding the resignation [of CEC and members] is ridiculous,” it added while referring to the demand put forward by the PTI after a legal victory in the Supreme Court. The commission further stated that it worked in line with the Constitution and laws while not succumbing to any type of pressure.