The Lahore High Court (LHC) Monday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to notify the members on the Punjab Assembly's reserved seats after accepting a plea registered by the PTI, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The PTI had approached the LHC against the ECP’s decision deferring the issuance of a notification on the reserved assembly seats till the by-elections on 20 vacant seats.

The five reserved seats fell vacant after the ECP disqualified four members of the provincial assembly who joined the Punjab assembly on reserved seats on PTI’s symbol over their defection to the PML-N for the election of the new chief minister.

The PTI had filed a petition in the LHC on May 28 requesting it to direct the ECP to notify the five new MPAs and "summon [them] personally". Subsequently, the high court had given the ECP a deadline for June 2 to decide on the matter.

The electoral watchdog had, however, decided that the notification would be stayed until by-elections were held.

PML-N to challenge LHC’s order 

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) decided on Monday to challenge the decision of the Lahore High Court (LHC) to notify the members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on the five reserved seats in Punjab Assembly.

According to the PML-N’s sources, the party will file an intra-court appeal against the decision of the high court for which it has started consultations with the legal experts.

It is to be noted here that a single bench of the LHC on Monday approved petitions against the non-issuance of a notification for the appointment of members on the five reserved seats in Punjab Assembly.

The LHC bench directed the election commission to issue a notification for the appointment of five members on the reserved seats in Punjab Assembly.

Justice Shahid Waheed had delivered the verdict after hearing the arguments of the lawyers of both sides.

Reporter: Malik Ashraf