Election Commission of Pakistan notifies 39 MNAs as PTI members in line with SC order

ISLAMABAD, July 25 (SABAH): The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday declared 39 lawmakers — who contested the February 8 elections as independent candidates and later joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) — as members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in line with the Supreme Court’s July 12 verdict in reserved seats case.

The ECP uploaded the notification on its website to declare 39 NA lawmakers as the former ruling party’s members who had shown their affiliation with the PTI in their nomination papers for the February 8 nationwide polls.

The decision was taken in a key session held under the chair of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja on Thursday in which they reached a conclusion to upload the notification of 39 lawmakers’ affiliation with the Imran-founded party.

In a unique majority verdict, the Supreme Court on July 12 declared the PTI eligible to receive reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the national and provincial assemblies, giving it a new lease on life in the legislature by declaring it to be a parliamentary party.

The majority judgment explained that 39 out of the 80 MNAs, shown by the ECP as PTI candidates, belonged to the party.

The rest of the 41 independents would have to file duly signed and notarised statements before the commission within 15 days, explaining that they contested the February 8 general elections as a candidate of a particular political party.

The ECP had finally decided last week to implement the apex court’s decision.

Friday’s meeting had noted that 39 MNAs who were declared as PTI lawmakers had mentioned their affiliation with the party in their nomination papers, whereas it was necessary for the candidates to submit a party ticket and declaration to the returning officer concerned, which was not done and it was not possible for the returning officers to declare them a PTI candidate in such situation.

“The 41 candidates who have been declared independent had neither mentioned PTI in their nomination papers nor disclosed their affiliation with the party. And also did not submit any party ticket. Therefore, the returning officers allowed them to participate in the election as independent candidates,” the ECP had explained.

The ECP notification said the following “returned candidates against general seats of National Assembly are declared to have been returned as candidates” of PTI.

The 39 MNAs are Amjad Ali Khan, Saleem Rehman, Sohail Sultan, Muhammad Bashir Khan, Mehboob Shah, Junaid Akbar, Ali Khan Jadoon, Asad Qaiser, Shahram Khan, Mujahid Al, Anwar Taj, Fazal Muhammad Khan, Arbab Amir Ayub, Shandana Gulzar Khan, Sher Ali Arbab, Asif Khan, Syed Shah Ahad Ali Shah, Shahid Khan, Nasim Ali Shah, Sher Afzal Khan, Usama Ahmed Mela, Shafqat Abbas, Ali Afzal Sahi, Rai Haider Ali Khan, Nisar Ahmed, Rana Atif, Changaze Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Ali Sarfraz, Khurram Shahzad Virk, Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa, Rai Hassan Nawaz Khan, Malik Muhammad Aamir Dogar, Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi, Rana Muhammad Faraz Noon, Mumtaz Mustafa, Muhammad Shabbir Ali Qureshi, Umber Majeed, Awais Haider Jakhar and Zartaj Gul.