80 PTI lawmakers declared SIC members after Election Act amendment

Almost 80 lawmakers belonging to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were declared as members of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) in a fresh party list issued by the National Assembly Secretariat.

The development came after the Election Act amendment, effective from 2017. The said amendment restricted independent members from changing the party after the announcement of their affiliation with one.

The secretariat did not add the name of the PTI to the list issued on September 18, as the members of the former ruling party had contested the elections as independent candidates, and joined SIC to grab reserve seats in the lower house.

Previously, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had declared 39 MNAs as PTI members, while 41 remained on the list of independent candidates.

The list showed 10 members of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), 69 members of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), 22 of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), 5 of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), 4 of Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), while Muslim League-Zia, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Awami National Party (ANP) each with 1 seat, sitting in the treasury benches.

Meanwhile, the opposition has 99 benches, including 80 of SIC, JUI-F (6), independent (8), Pakhtunkhwa Milli Party, Balochistan National Party and Majlis-e-Wehdat Muslimeen have one seat each.

Earlier, the lists were issued after the Speaker National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, letter to the ECP to allocate reserve seats in accordance with the amended Election Act.

In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, the speaker informed that the allocation of reserve seats could not be changed and the apex court's decision could not be implemented after the said amendments. 

On July 12, a thirteen-member larger bench of the SC declared in its ruling that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is a registered political party in the country and is eligible for reserve seats.