LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decision of not issuing a notification of five reserved seats of the MPAs after the disqualification of 25 MPAs who defected in the election of Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz.

The other day, the ECP deferred the notification of the PTI MPAs against the five reserved seats until the by-polls on the 20 general seats scheduled for July 17.

In a petition filed through Advocate Azhar Siddique, PTI MPA Zainab Umar submitted that the ECP passed an unlawful decision. She said the LHC had ordered the ECP to decide the matter in accordance with law and the Constitution.

The petitioner said the ECP showed its mala fide intent by seeking assistance from the attorney general of Pakistan and advocate general of Punjab. She said both law officers were supposed to defend the opinion of the government.

She stated that the ECP issuing the impugned order exercised its jurisdiction with material irregularity appearing on the face of record. She asked the court to set aside the impugned order and further direct the ECP to immediately issue the notifications of the five elected MPAs for the reserved seats as the list had already been provided by her political party.

On May 31, LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti directed the ECP to decide the matter of notification of the five reserved seats after affording an opportunity of hearing to both PTI and PML-N.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2022