ECP merges SIC reserve seats petitions, defers hearing until Wednesday

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) combined all Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) petitions seeking allocation of reserved seats on Tuesday and postponed the hearing until tomorrow (Wednesday), ARY News reported.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja headed a five-member bench which heard petitions by PML-N’s Azam Nazeer Tarar, PPP’s Farooq Naik and SIC’s counsel Gohar Khan and Ali Zafar.

Ali Zafar stated that he had sought the allocation of reserved seats for the SIC, wondering why the other parties had decided to show up.

Barrister Ali Zafar emphasised that his party’s reserved seat cannot be claimed by anyone else, highlighting that the SIC has already submitted a petition to the ECP for the allocation of reserved seats.

PML-N’s Tarar argued that the SIC had not won a single seat in the National Assembly, therefore, the independents that had joined the party could not be given reserved seats.

Tarar argued that these members, originating from a party rejected by the electorate, did not initially apply for reserved seats. Furthermore, given that the Sunni Ittehad Council is not recognized as a parliamentary party, he questioned their entitlement to reserved seats.

Tarar and Farooq H Naik emphasised that it is up to the commission to determine whether the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) can secure reserve seat or not.

CEC Sikandar Raja mentioned that the Election Commission has scheduled the applications for a hearing, and asked Ali Zafar, if he is a party to all of these cases.

The Chief Election Commissioner advised them to leave the matter of reserve seats to the Election Commission for decision.

Barrister Ali Zafar stated that they have not yet received copies of the applications and requested the commission to provide them. He assured that they would submit their response today.

Farooq H. Naik urged the Election Commission to convene and hear from all parties involved. “It is a legal issue, not a political one,” he added.

Barrister Gohar said that their opponents did not win a seat in Lahore and are asking for SIC seat. Azam Nazir Tarar responded to Barrister Gohar, suggesting that they should reserve these comments for private discussion, media outside the commission premises.

The PTI candidates contested the elections as independents after the Supreme Court upheld the election supervisor’s decision, considering its intra-party polls “unconstitutional” and revoked its claim on the electoral symbol of ‘bat’.

As per the Constitution, the reserved seats are allocated to the political parties on the basis of the number of their lawmakers elected on the general seats. For their allocation, the ECP had already received the priority list of candidates from the parties before the Feb 8 polls.

The situation this year is different from the previous elections as the largest group of lawmakers are independents, who cannot have the reserved seats.

There are a total of 346 reserved seats for women – 60 in the NA and 66, 29, 26, and 11 in the provincial legislatures of Punjab, Sindh, K-P, and Balochistan.

Similarly, there are 10 reserved seats for minorities in the lower house. Besides, there are eight, nine and three reserved seats for minorities in the Punjab Sindh, and Balochistan assemblies.

Sunni Itthead Council, in its letter, stated that 86 independent candidates of the National Assembly had joined his party, adding that 107 independents of Punjab Assembly, 90 of K-P Assembly and nine independent members of Sindh Assembly now garnered the support of the SIC.