Following the Supreme Court's verdict on reserved seats, independent members have begun submitting their affidavits of allegiance to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
According to the 24NewsHD TV channel, a Member of the National Assembly (MNA) from NA-119 Lahore, Mian Muhammad Azhar submitted his affidavit of allegiance to PTI on Sunday.
Mian Muhammad Azhar served the nation as Punjab governor in the former Nawaz League's regime while his son served as minister in the last PTI regime.
Atif Khan, a member of the National Assembly belonging to Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also submitted an affidavit in the office of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) expressing his affiliation with the PTI in the context of the Supreme Court's decision.
According to the TV channel, Members of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab (MPAs) Sardar Muhammad Ali Khan and Syed Ijaz Hussain Bhatti have also submitted their affidavits of allegiance to PTI.
On July 12, in a mammoth legal victory for PTI, the Supreme Court declared that the PTI was eligible for reserved seats and overturned the verdict of Peshawar High Court (PHC) and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) denying Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) allocation of reserved seats.
Striking down the ECP's decision of allocating reserved seats to the ruling coalition as “unconstitutional”, the 13-judge full court pronounced the majority verdict with 8-5 vote, also declaring as null and void ECP’s notification regarding reserved seats.
“As a political party, the PTI is entitled to its reserved seats,” said Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa while reading out the order, which was supported by eight judges and opposed by five of the 13-member full court bench.
Supreme Court’s Senior Puisne Judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah read the 8-5 majority verdict, nullifying the Peshawar High Court and ECP’s order, denying allocation of seats reserved for women and minorities to the SIC.
The apex court reserved the verdict on the SIC’s appeals on Tuesday after conducting nine hearings on the SIC's appeals after all parties including the federal government and the ECP presented their arguments against the SIC's plea.
The apex court remarked that the PTI was eligible for reserved seats. "The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was a political party and remains a political party," the Supreme Court order said while instructing the PTI to submit a list of its reserved seats candidates within 15 days.
According to the verdict, the PHC's judgment dated March 25 was set aside. "The order of the ECP dated March 1 is declared as ultra vires to the Constitution, without lawful authority, and of no legal effect," the SC order said.
"The notification of various dates, whereby the person respectively mentioned, therein, being the persons identified in the commission's notification dated May 13, have been declared to be returned candidates for reserved seats for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies are declared to be ultra vires to the Constitution, without lawful authority, and of no legal effect, and are quashed from May 6 onwards, being the date an interim order was issued by the Supreme Court," said the verdict.
PTI was a valid political party and allowed the grant of reserved seats for women and minorities proportionate to the general seats the party had secured in the national and provincial assemblies.
The court further declared that of the 80 candidates claiming to be backed by PTI, only 39 were shown by the commission to have filed their nomination papers as PTI candidates or with PTI's official ticket. Thus, these 39 seats were and are the returned candidates of PTI and have secured seats for the party.
The court further granted the PTI 15 days to submit requisite notarised documents certifying that the remaining 41 candidates too had contested the general elections on behalf of the PTI. The commission will then seek confirmation from the PTI about these candidates. These seats will be awarded to the PTI in the respective assemblies if confirmed.
The eight judges who held that PTI should be given reserved seats included Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hassan Ali Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan.
The court further ordered that the Sunni Ittehad Council does not fulfill the conditions to be recognised as a political party in assembly and thus cannot be allocated reserved seats for women and minorities. The PTI, however, does fulfill the conditions for a political party and can be allocated reserved seats.
Reporter: Usman Khadim Kamboh