President Asif Ali Zardari has signed the Elections Act (Amendment Bill) 2024 into law, barring independent lawmakers from switching parties.
The bill has been sent to the Senate Secretariat for the issuance of a gazette notification today, sources said.
The ratification comes a day after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) challenged the bill, which has retrospective amendments to the Elections Act 2017, in the Supreme Court.
PTI chairman Barrister Gohar filed a constitutional petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, requesting the court to declare the amendment act null and void, citing it as unconstitutional and illegal.
PTI has made the federal government and the Election Commission parties in the case. The party has also requested the court to immediately restrain the Election Commission from allocating reserved seats to other political parties.
PML-N lawmaker Bilal Azhar Kayani had introduced the bill in the NA a week ago, after which it had been rushed through the lower house’s Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs by 8-4 votes.
