The Lahore High Court (LHC) has issued directives to the Election Commission of Pakistan to notify members on reserved seats of the Punjab Assembly. These reserved seats fell vacant following the disqualification of dissident PTI MPAs over voting for Hamza Shahbaz during the CM Punjab election.
The Lahore High Court accepted the plea of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and ordered ECP to issue the notifications of concerned members on Punjab Assembly’s reserved seats. PTI has challenged the decision of ECP to defer the allotment of reserved seats till July by-polls in Punjab.
During the hearings, ECP counsel told the Lahore High Court that Election Commission will notify members on these reserve seats after by-polls on 20 seats of Punjab Assembly.
On the other hand, PTI’s counsels Barrister Ali Zafar and Azhar Siddique, challenged ECP’s arguments and pleaded that the election commission issues notifications on women and minority’s reserved seats following the lists provided by the political parties relying on the seats they won in general elections. The lists provided by the political parties could not be changed.
After hearing both sides, Justice Shahid Waheed announced the decision and directed the election commission to issue notifications to the concerned MPAs.
