The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday accepted a petition filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) seeking the allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities in the province. The party, which was joined by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) affiliated backed independent candidates who had won the February 8 general elections to claim reserved seats, filed the plea today. The court accepted the PTI-backed party's request for an urgent hearing of the petition in view of the importance of the matter. On March 4, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ruled that PTI-backed SIC is not eligible for the reserved seats allotted to women and minorities. Following the electoral body's verdict, the party approached the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the reserved seats matter. The court on Wednesday barred the oath-taking of lawmakers notified on reserved seats denied to the SIC.

A stay order preventing members from swearing-in was also issued while ECP was directed to submit its response in the said matter. A day earlier, the PHC extended the stay order on the oath-taking ceremony of lawmakers and summoned Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan to appear before the court on the next hearing. The same day, SIC also approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday against the ECP's move for not giving them reserved seats in Punjab. In the verdict, the ECP said it extended the deadline to submit a priority list for the reserved seats of women, and the SIC, before the February 8 polls, did not submit the required list which was "mandatory". The electoral body said the SIC cannot claim the share in the reserved seats for the women “due to non-curable procedural and legal defects and violations of mandatory provisions of the Constitution”.

The ECP verdict cited Article 51(6), saying the article clearly stated the reserved seats would be allocated to the political parties who contested elections and won general seats based on a “proportional representation system”. It further stated that the percentum share of each political party shall be worked out with reference to the total number of general seats in the National Assembly and the provincial assembly. “The same formula is provided for the reserved seats for non-Muslims.” While rejecting the plea of SIC, the ECP accepted applications of the opposing parties and decided that the seats in the National Assembly would not remain vacant and be allocated by a proportional representation process of political parties on the basis of seats won by political parties. “[The] Office is directed to calculate the quota accordingly,” read the verdict.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)