The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has temporarily halted the oath-taking of beneficiaries of National Assembly reserved seats that were initially meant for the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC). This decision was made after a petition was filed by the SIC, joined by PTI-backed independents who won seats without their electoral symbol, challenging the Election Commission of Pakistan’s rejection of the party’s allocation of reserved seats.
The court is set to determine:
Whether it has jurisdiction over the matter.
If the petitioner has the legal right to file the petition.
Whether the SIC is entitled to claim reserved seats for women and non-Muslims according to the Constitution, Elections Act, and Elections Rules.
Whether the defect of non-submission of lists for reserved seats is curable under the law.
Whether the seats should remain vacant or be allocated through proportional representation based on seats won by political parties.
Whether the ECP has misunderstood the constitutional provisions.
The PHC referred the case to the chief justice for the formation of a larger bench to handle the complex constitutional issues involved. Notices were issued to the Attorney General for Pakistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Advocate General for assistance.
At the hearing, the PTI lawyer argued that PTI-backed independents were forced to run as independent candidates after losing their electoral symbol and later joined the SIC after winning seats. He claimed that the SIC was entitled to 22 reserved seats in the National Assembly, which were distributed to other parties according to the ECP’s decision.
The bench reserved its verdict in the case and issued a notice to the ECP to halt the oath-taking ceremony until March 7.