Peshawar: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) issued on Wednesday a one-day stay order on the reserved seats de-cision announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The ECP had earlier decided against the allotment of reserve seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) – the party which became a refuge to PTI-backed lawmakers.
The high court took up PTI’s application against the ECP’s decision not to allot reserve seats to the par-ty and following the stay order, barred lawmakers from taking oath on the seats.
The former ruling party made ECP, PPP, PML-N, JUI-F, MQM-P and other parties respondents in the petition, and contended that PTI leaders have joined the SIC, however, they have not been allotted reserve seats; adding that seats can be allotted even after the election.
PHC’s Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim inquired if the case was only limited to the province of K-P or was it appli-cable to the entire country.
Advocate Qazi Anwar stated that the ECP “gave the same decision on the seats of the national and provincial assemblies, our specific seats cannot be distributed constitutionally and legally, we want those who have been given seats not to take oath.”
The petitioner’s counsel also informed the court that the SIC did not submit a list of its members to ECP.
After listening to further arguments, the court stopped lawmakers from taking oath on the conten-tious seats and sought a response on the matter by the ECP and other parties by March 7 (Thursday.
The court also directed the speaker of the National Assembly not to administer the oath to the women and minority members elected to the reserve seats till tomorrow.
PTI-backed SIC faced another major blow as the ECP refused to allocate reserved seats to the party.
Following the verdict, PTI decided to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court, which denied re-served seats for women and minorities to the SIC in the National Assembly.
A five-member bench, presided over by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, had reached a 4-1 verdict, declaring that the SIC is not entitled to reserved seats in the NA.
The ECP had earlier deprived the PTI of its election symbol—the cricket bat—on December 22, 2023, in view of irregularities in its intra-party polls. This decision was upheld by the Supreme Court on January 13, weeks before the February 8 general elections.
Following the court’s verdict, PTI lawmakers were forced to contest elections in independent capacity. –Agencies
