ECP says PTI MNAs who ditched PTI can’t be disqualified

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday dismissed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) references seeking the disqualification of its dissident members of the National Assembly (NA).

A three-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja reserved its decision after hearing arguments from all sides — the PTI and the lawyers of the dissident MNAs.

The ECP stated that the declarations by the PTI against its lawmakers were not found to be in accordance with the Constitution.

PTI’s lawyer Faisal Chaudhry requested the court to provide a copy of the reserved verdict, saying that he will appeal against it.

While presenting his arguments, Noor Alam Khan’s lawyer Gohar Khan maintained that Article 63(A)1 does not apply to Noor.

“The show-cause notice issued by the PTI secretary-general doesn’t have legal status. Therefore, Noor is still a PTI member,” Gohar argued, adding that the show-cause notice issued by the secretary-general was nothing more than a piece of paper as per the law. He maintained that as per the Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling, ECP’s full-court bench can give its verdict in the disqualification reference.

The PTI filed references against 20 MNAs seeking their disqualification under Article 63-A of the Constitution ahead of the no-trust vote against then-premier Imran Khan.