The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday approached the Supreme Court seeking clarification on a judgment by a full bench regarding the allocation of reserved seats after it claimed to have encountered anomalous complications in executing the order.
In a two-page application, the top poll body has pointed out multiple anomalies in the structure of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
"In the absence of a valid organisational structure of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who will confirm the political affiliation of the returned candidates (MNAs and MPAs) on behalf of PTI, who have filed their statements in light of the Supreme Court Order?" ECP asked.
The ECP also sought guidance about the legal consequences of confirming statements of MNAS/MPAs issued by an unauthorised person on behalf of the PTI in the absence of an organisational structure.
The poll body conceded that the PTI was a political party in their records, but there are questions about its organisational structure.
"According to Section 201(b) [Election Act 2017] a political party shall formulate its Constitution which shall include an organisational structure of the political party at the federal, provincial and local levels, whichever is applicable."
The poll body said that every enlisted political party is obligated to conduct intra-party elections in terms of Section 208 of the Elections Act 2017 within the specified term in accordance with the party's constitution and file a certificate in the commission under Section 209 of the Election Act to confirm that intra-party elections have been conducted in accordance with the party constitution.
"The order ibid directs that the political party shall confirm the statements of candidates (MNAS and MPAs) in terms of para 9 and 10 of the order," ECP held.
"A political party may exist on paper, but it cannot operate nor confirm any statement in the absence of validly elected organisational bodies, mentioned in the party constitution," ECP further argued.
The poll body submitted that, given this backdrop, it was facing difficulty in implementing the top court's order as the PTI currently has no organisational structure for confirming statements of MNAS/MPAs, who purportedly belong to the PTI.
The application further stated that the ECP thoroughly deliberated upon the issues and decided to seek guidance from the top court.
It is pertinent to note that the eight-five majority judgement by the 13-member full bench of the Supreme Court had earlier in the month directed the ECP to redesignate all those returned candidates, who had filed nomination papers with a PTI certificate, to the PTI (enumerating 39 returned candidates) provided their certificates are reconfirmed, while the remaining 41 returned candidates who were deemed as independents, should be granted 15 days to decide whether they wanted to remain as independent candidates, join the Sunni Ittehad Council or the PTI.
Moreover, the order noted that the ECP had incorrectly interpreted the top court's January 13 order, in which the court withdrew PTI's electoral symbol but did not disqualify the party or its candidates from contesting as members of the party. Following the verdict, the ECP issued a statement differing with the court's opinion that the ECP had incorrectly interpreted the order.