Imran Khan's party challenges law restricting independent lawmakers from joining other parties

Islamabad, Aug 7 (PTI) Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party on Wednesday challenged in the Supreme Court a bill restricting independent lawmakers from joining a party after a certain period.
     The National Assembly on Tuesday passed the Elections (Second Amendment) Act, 2024, followed by its passage in the Senate, apparently to circumvent the apex court's July 12 verdict that declared the PTI a legitimate party eligible for the reserved seats.
     The amendment changed Sections 66 and 104 of the Elections Act 2017, restricting independent candidates from joining political parties after a constitutionally and legally defined period.
     PTI chief Gohar Ali Khan filed a petition in the apex court with the request to declare the newly passed amendments as “unconstitutional”.
     "The expression of the will of the people once made cannot be retrospectively subjected to restrictions that were non-existent at the time and that are in any case unconstitutional. Actions taken by the people and their chosen representatives in the exercise of their constitutional rights cannot be undone by parliament through legislation. Such legislation suffers from malice in law,” according to the petition that marks the federal government and the Election Commission of Pakistan as respondents.
     The amendment to the Elections Act 2017 will be enforced retroactively, clearly showing that the aim was to target the 41 independent lawmakers who could join the PTI after the Supreme Court verdict of July 12, which recognised that the PTI was a party and independents could join it.
     Earlier, the Supreme Court had declared that 39 members who had shown affiliation with the PTI while filing nominations for elections were its members while another 41 lawmakers who were elected with the support of the PTI may join the party after filing an affidavit.
     The Election Commission has already issued a notification recognising 39 lawmakers as members of the PTI, while the fate of 41 others is still pending.
     After the apex court verdict, the PTI was expected to become the largest party in the parliament while the ruling coalition was deprived of its two-third majority as the party also got a share in the reserved seats.
     The new law stops the 41 independent candidates from joining the PTI as they already joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) after the election.
     After the elections, the PTI asked the independents supported by the party to join the SIC to get a share of the reserved seats allotted to the party based on strength in the parliament.
     However, the SIC bid to get reserved seats failed and its petition in the top court led to the decision that independents can join the PTI.
     The proposed amendment also forbids allotting reserved seats to a party which did not submit the list of candidates for these seats before elections.
     The judgment had opened doors for the PTI to apply for reserved seats even without submitting the list before the poll.
     The bill would become an act of parliament after the president’s assent.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)