Islamabad
\nLeader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan has come down the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), underscoring the call for invoking Article 6 against the ones who misinterpreted the Constitution as the poll conducting authority deprived the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of its iconic election symbol \u2014 bat.
\nAyub\u2019s remarks come after the Supreme Court\u2019s full bench announced earlier today its reserved verdict with an 8-5 majority, granting the PTI the entitlement to the seats reserved for women and minorities on pleas of the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) which were earlier rejected by the poll conducting authority.
\nThe apex court nullified the Peshawar High Court\u2019s (PHC) order wherein it had upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan\u2019s (ECP) decision denying the reserved seats to the PTI-backed SIC.
\n\u201cI congratulate the entire Pakistan on this auspicious day and the entire legal team,\u201d said Ayub \u2014 the PTI general-secretary \u2014 hailing the top court\u2019s ruling while addressing a press conference flanked by other party leaders, including the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Shibli Faraz, party chairman Gohar Ali Khan and legal wizard Salman Akram Raja on Friday.
\n\u201cThe PTI founder had said that it is essential to have the supremacy of the law and the Constitution, ethics and justice in the state.\u201d
\nThe NA\u2019s opposition leader stressed Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and four other members of the poll watchdog should resign from their offices immediately, saying the CEC and other ECP members divested the party of its election symbol.
\nWith this move, they ended up interfering with the party\u2019s electioneering, he added.
\nAyub continued, \u201cThe ECP wrongly interpreted the law and the Constitution in line with their vested interests,\u201d underlining the need that no one should dare to humiliate the public mandate.
\nReacting to the PTI\u2019s stance, Adviser to Prime Minister on Political Affairs, Rana Sanaullah said: \u201cThe PTI never claimed the reserved seats. If the Election Commission misinterpreted the ruling, the PTI could have interpreted it correctly. Even if the PTI has committed a mistake, the court must rectify it?\u201d
\nHe added that the Supreme Court ruling did not favour the SIC [Sunni Ittehad Council], as their petition was not accepted by the court.
\n\u201cThe new ruling identifies these independent members as part of the PTI. Verdicts should be transparent, understandable to the public, and further a sense of security, leading to national progress.\u201d
\nSanaullah, the former security czar, also said if courts\u2019 \u201cverdicts are transparent, and understandable to the public\u201d, they further a sense of security that leads to national progress.
\nMeantime, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar also reacted to the apex court\u2019s verdict earlier today, saying the ruling posed no threat to the incumbent coalition government.
\n\u201cWe still have a majority of 209 members and the verdict has not been completed yet,\u201d the federal minister said, adding that he was not sure whether the government would file a review petition challenging the verdict as it was the prerogative of the federal cabinet, not a minister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan has come down the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), underscoring the call for invoking Article 6 against the ones who misinterpreted the Constitution as the poll conducting authority deprived the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of its iconic election symbol \u2014 bat. Ayub\u2019s remarks come […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-418032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n