LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to issue a notification of five MPAs on the reserved seats after the disqualification of 25 MPAs who defected in the election of Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz.

Filed through Advocate Azhar Siddique, the PTI in a letter to the ECP states that the non-issuance of notification of the MPAs for the five reserved seats falls within the ambit of Article 204 of the Constitution read with Section(s) 3 and 5 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003.

It says if the notifications are not issued immediately, then the party would be constrained to initiate contempt of court proceedings in accordance with law.

The letter argues that no by-election for the disqualified MPAs is needed for the reserved seats as Article 244 (6) of the Constitution is clear and the same needs to be implemented in letter of spirit.

It says the party list is already in the possession of the ECP, therefore, it is the need of the day that the notifications be issued to the declared/elected MPAs for the five reserved seats.

“Any deviation from the same would be considered, to all intents and purposes, a violation of the Constitution and violation of Article 218 read with other constitutional provisions which authorize jurisdiction onto ECP,” it adds.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2022