Pakistan election bill becomes law in fresh blow to reserved seats’ hopes for ex-PM Khan’s party

This file photograph, taken and released by Pakistan's Press Information Department on July 23, 2024, shows Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari signing an amendment bill at the President House in Islamabad. (PID/File)

• Pakistan’s top court last month ruled Khan’s party was indeed eligible for over 20 extra reserved seats in parliament
• Khan’s party has already challenged amendments to the law, referring to them as “illegal” legislation

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Zardari on Thursday ratified amendments to Pakistan’s election laws that could prevent the allocation of reserved seats to the party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, local media widely reported, dealing a fresh blow to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
PTI candidates had to contest the Feb. 8 general elections as independents after the party was stripped by the election commission of its electoral symbol of a cricket bat on technical grounds. They won the most seats in the polls but not enough to form government and the commission also ruled they were not entitled to reserved parliamentary seats for women and minorities that are allocated in proportion to the number of seats a political party wins in general elections.
Last month, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that the PTI was indeed eligible for over 20 extra reserved seats in parliament. The court said the PTI was a political party for the purpose of the Feb. 8 polls and those who contested as independents because the PTI lost its election symbol were in fact PTI candidates.
Under pressure from the top court’s ruling, the coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif proposed a bill seeking amendments to the Elections Act 2017, largely viewed as an attempt to deprive PTI of getting the additional seats. The amendments were approved by both the upper and lower houses of parliament and have now been ratified by the president.
“President Asif Ali Zardari has signed the Election Act Amendment Bill 2024, which prohibits independent lawmakers from switching parties,” Pakistan’s English-language newspaper The Express Tribune reported. 
Khan’s PTI has already challenged the amendments in the Supreme Court, calling the new Elections (Second Amendment) Bill an “illegal and unconstitutional” legislation.
The Elections (Second Amendment) Bill says if a candidate does not submit a declaration of his affiliation with a political party to the returning officer before seeking the allotment of an election symbol, he or she shall be “deemed to be considered as an independent candidate and not a candidate of any political party.”
Another amendment says if a political party fails to submit its list for reserved seats within the prescribed time period, it would not be eligible for reserved seats at a later stage. A third amendment says a winning independent candidate’s decision to join a political party after elections was irrevocable.
After the election, PTI-backed candidates were forced to join the Sunni Ittehad Council, or SIC party, to claim their share of reserved seats since the election commission said independents were not eligible for them. Under the new election bill, PTI candidates who contested as independents and later joined the SIC may no longer be allowed to rejoin the PTI.
In Pakistan, parties are allocated 70 reserved seats — 60 for women, 10 for non-Muslims — in proportion to the number of seats won in general elections. This completes the National Assembly’s total 336 seats. 
A simple majority in Pakistan’s parliament is 169 out of 336 seats.