ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The members of the National Assembly from the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) on Thursday challenged the Presidential Ordinance on FATA regulations in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
Last night, President Mamnoon Hussain had issued an ordinance under which the members from the FATA were entitled to cast only one vote.
Following a petition filed in the IHC against the presidential ordinance, the high court sought reply from the federation and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the matter.
The presidential ordinance was issued only a few hours before the senate elections, granting the right of only one vote to each member of the National Assembly from FATA in Senate polls.
According to the notification, the previous presidential ordinance of 2002 that allowed four votes to each FATA members had been withdrawn.
In the petition filed in the IHC, it was requested that the election method instituted by the presidential ordinance should be reversed and the FATA Senate elections should be conducted according to the method of voting employed in previous elections.
Earlier, the Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah also urged the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to take notice of the promulgation of Presidential Ordinance for FATA.
Talking to media persons in his Chamber at Parliament House on Thursday, Khursheed Shah said that election laws could not be changed after the announcement of Senate elections schedule and MNAs from FATA have gone to Election Commission in this regard.
