PTI vows to oppose NA bill amending Election Act on party affiliation issue

• Khosa says proposed amendment is based on "mal-intent".
• He says party would not allow bill to pass at committee stage.
• Barrister Gohar says legislation being bulldozed unconstitutionally.
  

Lamenting the legislation tabled by the incumbent government seeking amendment in the Election Act 2017, veteran politician and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) leader Latif Khosa has vowed that the party would not allow it to pass in the National Assembly's standing committee stage.

A day earlier, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq had sent the Election Act (Amendment) Bill, 2024 — a move termed by Khosa as "mal-intent" — tabled by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Bilal Azhar Kiyani to the relevant House Committee.

The proposed amendment to Sections 66 and 104 of the Election Act seeks to prohibit individuals who contested general election as independent candidates from changing their affidavit at a later stage to declare affiliation with any political party.

It also says that political parties who failed to submit a list of the reserved seats within the stipulated time to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will not be eligible for the reserved seats.

Furthermore, the amendment also proposes that if a political party fails to submit its list for reserved seats within the aforesaid prescribed time period, it shall not be eligible for the quota in the reserved seats at a later stage and any candidate will be considered as an independent candidate if they fail to submit declaration for affiliation with a political party before seeking the allotment of an election symbol.

The suggested legislation drew a strong reaction from the PTI with its Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan who has said that the said bill is being bulldozed through the lower house in an "unconstitutional manner".

Claiming that the former ruling party secured 50% of the total votes, in the February 8 polls, the PTI chairman said that despite the submission of affidavits by their 41 MNAs, their lawmakers are being targeted.

He also expressed hope that the Supreme Court will ensure the implementation of its July 12 verdict which had declared the PTI eligible for reserved seats.

It is to be noted that the apex court, in its order, directed the PTI to submit a list of its eligible candidates for reserved seats to the electoral body within 15 days of the verdict and ordered the electoral body to publish the list of reserved seats of the candidates on its website within seven days.

Since then the ECP has notified as many as 93 lawmakers from three provincial legislatures as PTI members.

The electoral body issued notification of 29 members of the PTI from Punjab, 58 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and six from Sindh, The News reported on Tuesday.

These are the lawmakers who had contested the February 8 elections as independent candidates and shown their affiliation with the former ruling party in their documents submitted to the election commission ahead of the polls.

The government's attempt to amend the Election Act seems to prevent the PTI from becoming the largest single party in the NA, which might pose a threat to the ruling coalition. The PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have already filed a review petition in the apex court against the reserved seats' verdict.