IHC moved against political parties for failing to allocate 5pc tickets to women

ISLAMABAD: A petition has been filed in Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking action against political parties for failing to ensure five per cent mandatory quota for women on general seats under the provisions of Section 206 of the Elections Act, 2017, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The Aurat Foundation, in its petition filed in IHC, revealed that only PML-N and MQM-P allocated over 5pc of their tickets to women for 266 National Assembly seats, while other political parties failed to meet this requirement.

Meanwhile, IHC judge Justice Aamer Farooq issued notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan ECP), seeking its response by tomorrow (Feb 7).

Earlier, Aurat Foundation (AF) filed a complaint with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), claiming that major political parties, including PPP and Jamat-e-Islami (JI), have failed to ensure five per cent mandatory quota for women on general seats.

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Raja Sultan, the Aurat Foundation expressed concern over the political parties’ “failure” to ensure five per cent mandatory quota for women on general seats in each of the four Provincial Assemblies and National Assembly as per the Article 206 of the Elections Act 2017.

According to the statistics shared by the organisation, the PPP, JI, ANP, TLP, JUI-F and BNP have not met the requirement of awarding at least 5% party tickets to women on general seats.

In Punjab, PML-N, PPP, JI and TLP failed to ensure mandatory quota for women. Similarly in Sindh, MQM-P, ANP and TLP did not award at least 5% party tickets to women.

“We are dismayed to find that some political parties have not observed the legal requirement under section 206 of the Election Act 2017 and section 6 of the code of conduct for political parties,” the statement said.

The AF urged the electoral watchdog to take legal action as per Section 217(1) of the Election Act against those political parties who violated Section 206 and awarded less than the mandatory 5% party tickets to women.