Islamabad – Former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has claimed that Pakistan’s Supreme Court will likely overturn the new Election Amendment Bill 2024. He argues that the law was created to bypass the court’s July 12 ruling, which had given the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party reserved seats and positioned it to become the largest party in the National Assembly.
On the show Rubaroo, aired on Aaj News, Chaudhry said, “This law was made to be challenged in the Supreme Court, and then the government will complain.” He described the law as an unfair attempt to undermine the court’s decision.
The Election Amendment Bill 2024 was recently signed into law by President Asif Ali Zardari after being quickly passed by Parliament despite PTI’s objections. Federal Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar explained that the law aims to stop lawmakers from switching parties. The bill was introduced by PML-N lawmaker Bilal Azhar Kayani and rushed through the National Assembly.
The new law changes several rules in the Elections Act 2017, including how candidates show their party affiliations, how party lists for reserved seats are handled, and the process for independent candidates joining parties.
Chaudhry said that only a two-thirds majority in Parliament can overturn a Supreme Court decision and stressed that the court’s power under Article 184(3) of the Constitution is crucial. He warned that the new law is a challenge to the Supreme Court and predicted more conflict between the government and the judiciary. He also suggested that the Election Commission of Pakistan could face serious problems after the court’s detailed decision is announced in September.
Chaudhry also talked about the current political situation, stating that Imran Khan and PTI are still central to Pakistan’s politics. He criticized the lack of response to Khan’s proposals for talks and doubted that Khan’s legal issues would be handled by military courts. He noted that there is no sign of secret negotiations between PTI and the establishment and mentioned that Khan’s prison conditions have not changed.
Chaudhry added that Khan does not look up to Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and compared political challenges in Pakistan to those in Bangladesh’s history. He also recalled Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s vision for relations between Pakistan and India, which he feels has not been achieved.
