NA secretariat issues revised party position sans disputed reserved seats

• Ruling coalition comprises 213 lawmakers.
• List doesn't include disputed reserved seats.
• 80 PTI-backed MNAs declared SIC members.

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly secretariat has issued its revised party position list in the lower house of parliament reflecting each political party's standings excluding the disputed reserved seats.

The list — issued by the electoral body on September 18 i.e., prior to the Speaker Ayaz Sadiq's letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) regarding the Supreme Court's July 12 verdict — does not include the 15 reserved seats given to the Pakistan Muslim-League-Nawaz (PML-N), and the five and three seats given to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JIU-F).

The development comes a day after NA Speaker Sadiq, in his letter to the ECP termed the top court's ruling "incapable of implementation" after the amendments to the Election Act 2017.

The letter refers to the apex court's decision which declared the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) eligible for reserved seats, essentially paving the way for the resurrection of the Imran Khan-founded party in the assemblies.

Following the decision, the electoral body had notified 93 lawmakers as belonging to the PTI in various legislatures.

However, the incumbent ruling coalition then bulldozed the Elections (Second Amendment) Act, 2024 and  Elections (Second Amendment) Bill, 2024 in the NA and the Senate on August 6, respectively and the legislation came into force with President Asif Ali Zardari's assent on August 9.

In his letter to the ECP, Sadiq underscored two "particular provisions" — amendments to Section 66 and Section 104-A, which he said, were relevant for the Election Commission’s consideration.

In its amendment to Section 66 of the Elections Act, the bill says that if a candidate does not submit a declaration of his affiliation with a political party to the returning officer (RO) before seeking allotment of the election symbol, they shall be "deemed to be considered as an independent candidate and not a candidate of any political party".

Meanwhile, the amendment to Section 104 reads that the declaration, consent or affidavit, by whatever name called, of an independent returned candidate once given for joining a political party shall be irrevocable and cannot be substituted or withdrawn.

Furthermore, the letter pointed out Section 1 (2) of the Amended Election Act, which states that the said amendments will have a retrospective effect from 2017 when the Election Act 2017 was passed.

Lower house of parliament's position

The new party position issued by the NA secretariat on September 18, shows a total of 213 lawmakers on treasury benches including PML-N's 110 MNAs, PPP (69); Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (22), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (5); Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (4) and one lawmaker each from Pakistan Muslim League-Zia, Balochistan Awami Party and National Party.

Meanwhile, the opposition benches include 80 SIC members along with eight lawmakers of the JIU-F.

Eight PTI-backed independent MNAs along with one lawmaker each from Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), Balochistan National Party-Mengal and Wahdat-e-Muslimeen are also part of the opposition.

Whereas, an independent lawmaker sitting in the opposition has joined the PML-N, the NA secretariat said.

The list doesn't include the 15 reserved seats given to the PML-N along with five and three seats given to the PPP and the JIU-F.

The number of members in the National Assembly is 313 — without the 23 reserved seats — and the number will be pushed to 336 once the empty and disputed seats are given to the PTI.