ISLAMABAD: More than a month after the Supreme Court handed a major legal victory to the PTI by declaring it eligible for reserved seats in National and provincial assemblies, the party remains without a head and an election symbol in the Election Commission of Pakistan’s books.

On Wednesday, the ECP released a revised list of political parties, leaving the position of party head for PTI vacant.

The updated list was made public over five weeks after the Supreme Court’s July 12 ruling on reserved seats. Despite the split decision of 8-5, all 13 judges had acknowledged PTI’s status as a parliamentary party.

The majority judgement explained that 39 out of the 80 MNAs listed by the ECP as PTI candidates were indeed from that party. However, the remaining 41 independents were required to submit duly signed and notarised statements to the Election Commission within 15 days from the date of the top court’s verdict, confirming that they contested the Feb 8 general elections as candidates of a specific political party.

Although the ECP eventually notified the 39 lawmakers, it delayed the process by two weeks before approaching the Supreme Court for clarification on who should be contacted for verification as the PTI had lost its organisational structure.

The controversy began when the ECP, after dragging the PTI’s party polls case for a long time, voided its intra-party elections held in 2022 — just before the general elections — and gave the party 20 days to conduct fresh elections, which were also not recognised by the ECP.

The commission then denied PTI its iconic poll symbol — bat — forcing candidates to run in the general election as independents. Subsequently, reserved seats were controversially distributed among three other political parties.

The Supreme Court has yet to respond to the ECP’s request for clarification — a move many see as an attempt to prevent PTI from emerging as the largest party in the National Assembly. The case against the intra-party elections conducted by PTI after the general elections — its third such exercise in less than two years — also remains pending before the ECP.

The revised ECP list now includes 166 registered political parties. The Election Commission has recognised the intra-party elections of several political parties, including the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), without any scrutiny.

The commission has confirmed Nawaz Sharif as the PML-N president, while Hafiz Naeemur Rehman is listed as the chief of Jamaat-i-Islami. Interestingly, President Asif Ali Zardari, despite being elected as head of state for a second time, continues to head Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP), while Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has been confirmed as chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Former KP chief minister Mehmood Khan has been updated as the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTI-P), a party formed by another former KP chief minister, Pervaiz Khattak, before the general elections.

Asfandyar Wali Khan remains the president of the Awami National Party (ANP), and Maulana Fazlur Rahman continues to lead his faction of JUI. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui also retains his position as convener of MQM-Pakistan. The election body has included the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) in the list of registered political parties without mentioning the name of its head.

Prominent party leaders in the list include Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain (Pakistan Muslim League), Mehmood Khan Achakzai (Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party), Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch (National Democratic Party), Dr Abdul Malik Baloch (National Party), Shahzain Bugti (Jamhoori Wattan Party), and Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao (Qaumi Watan Party).

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2024