LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday sought a reply from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) within ten days on a petition of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MPA Zainab Umar questioning a ‘delay’ in issuance of a notification of five MPAs on reserved seats.

The petitioner’s counsel contended that the ECP issued a notification for by-election on 20 vacant general seats MPAs who defected in the election of Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz.

The counsel said the PTI proposed five names for nomination in place of the vacant reserved seats, however, the ECP failed to issue notifications for the same which was against the law.

He said the government had been causing a hindrance in the issuance of the notification of the MPAs for the reserved seats. He argued that the deliberate hindrance and wilful non-issuance of the notification was in violation of the Article 224 of the Constitution.

The counsel asked the court to direct the ECP to issue immediately the notifications for the reserved seats of the MPAs as the list by the petitioner’s party had already been furnished. The court after hearing petitioner’s counsel at length issued a notice to the ECP and sought a reply from it.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022