ISLAMABAD: Days after the Supreme Court issued explanation at the reserved seats verdict, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq said that the apex court docket’s July 12 ruling is now “incapable of implementation” after the amendments to Election Act 2017. In what it called a chief victory for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), a 13-member complete bench of the top court on July 12 ruled that the Imran Khan-based birthday party turned into eligible for the allocation of reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the national and provincial assemblies. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah introduced the 8-5 majority verdict, nullifying the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) order wherein it had upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) selection denying the reserved seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) The PTI applicants contested the Feb 8 general elections as independents after the pinnacle court upheld the ECP choice to deprive the opposition celebration of its iconic electoral image — bat — over “illegal” intra-birthday party polls. The choice pressured the PTI-sponsored prevailing applicants to sign up for the SIC in a bid to claim reserved seats. However, the ECP denied the reserved to the SIC over its failure to submit list of candidates in the stipulated time. The NA Speaker, in its letter to the electoral watchdog, referred to that the Supreme Court had directed the election commission to permit impartial returned applicants to sign up for any other political party months after already joining a political party because of the General Elections 2024. “In effect, the SC judgment has allowed a back candidate to exchange political parties,” it cited. However, Sadiq mentioned, after the July 12 ruling, parliament followed the Elections (Second Amendment) Act, 2024 — which had also received President Asif Zardari’s assent on August 7 and posted in the Gazette of Pakistan on August 9 as “Amended Election Act”. He talked about “unique provisions” — amendments to Section sixty six and Section 104-A, which he said, had been applicable for the Election Commission’s attention. In its modification to Section sixty six of the Elections Act, the invoice says that if a candidate does now not post a declaration of his association with a political birthday celebration to the returning officer (RO) earlier than seeking allotment of the election symbol, they will be “deemed to be considered as an impartial candidate and now not a candidate of any political birthday celebration”. Meanwhile, the change to Section 104 reads that the announcement, consent or affidavit, by way of whatever call called, of an unbiased lower back candidate once given for becoming a member of a political birthday party shall be irrevocable and can’t be substituted or withdrawn. Furthermore, the letter mentioned Section 1 (2) of the Amended Election Act, which states that the stated amendments may have retrospective impact from 2017 when the Election Act 2017 turned into passed. “In view of this backdrop, it is said that unbiased lower back applicants who’ve already given a becoming a member of to a political birthday party can’t be allowed to now transfer parties in terms of the Amended Election Act which has paramount and overriding impact,” Sadiq wrote. The speaker also stated that no allocation can now be made by way of the ECP with out making use of the Amended Election Act to the fullest. “As the SC judgement changed into rendered based on the law previous to the enactment of the amendment, the stated judgment is now incapable of implementation,” it stated, noting that it’s miles the Amended Election Act that shall be triumphant and supersede the prior ruling.
