Islamabad, Jul 30 (PTI) In an apparent move to checkmate jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, the ruling coalition on Tuesday moved a bill in the parliament to restrict the independently elected lawmakers from joining other parties after a specified period.
The Second Amendment Bill to the Elections Act 2024 was introduced in the National Assembly by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) member Bilal Kayani.
The proposed amendment aims to alter Sections 66 and 104 of the Elections Act 2017, restricting independent candidates from joining political parties after a constitutionally and legally defined period.
It also states that parties failing to submit a list of reserved seats within the specified period will not be eligible for those seats.
It further stipulates that candidates who do not submit an affidavit of party affiliation to the returning officer will be considered independent and their declaration of party affiliation after elections will not be recognised.
The amendment to the Elections Act 2017 will be enforced retroactively, clearly showing that the aim was to target the 41 independent lawmakers who could join Khan’s party after the Supreme Court verdict of July 12, which recognised that the PTI was a party and independents can join it.
The court also declared that 39 members who had shown affiliation with the PTI while filing nomination for elections were its members, while another 41 lawmakers who were elected with the support of PTI may join the party after filing an affidavit.
The Election Commission of Pakistan already issued notification recognizing 39 lawmakers as members of the PTI, while the fate of 41 others is still pending.
After the verdict, the PTI was expected to become the largest party in the parliament, while the ruling coalition was deprived of two-third majority as the PTI also got a share in the reserved seats.
The new law, if enacted, would stop the 41 independent candidates from joining the PTI as they already joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) after the election.
The PTI after elections had asked its supported independents to join the SIC to get a share in the reserved seats which are allotted to the party on the basis of strength in the parliament.
However, the SIC bid to get reserved seats failed and its petition in the top court led to the decision that independents can join the PTI.
The proposed amendment also forbade allotting reserved seats to a party which had not submitted the list of candidates for these seats before elections. The judgment had opened doors for the PTI to apply for reserved seats even without submitting the list before the poll.
After the bill was submitted, its mover asked the speaker to send it to the standing committee for discussion, which Speaker Ayaz Sadiq subsequently did. He also asked the committee chairman to convene a meeting the following day. PTI SH ZH ZH
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