PHC grants SIC plea, restrains oath taking on reserved seats

PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Wednesday restrained elected members of reserved seats from oath taking on a petition of the SIC, ARY News reported.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday notified allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities, which were claimed by PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), to other political parties.

The move came a day after the electoral body rejected the SIC petition, seeking allocation of reserved seats following a merger with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) had filed petition in the high court seeking restraining order over the reserved seats.

The high court restrained elected members of reserved seats from oath taking.

The PHC also issued notices to the election commission and other respondents.

The court ordered the Speaker, not to administer oath to members elected on reserved seats till tomorrow (Thursday).

A high court division bench comprises of Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Shakeel Ahmed, heard the case.

Following the allocation of reserved seats, PML-N becomes the largest parliamentary party in National Assembly (NA) with 123 seats followed by PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) with 82 seats. Meanwhile, Bilawal Bhutto-led PPP managed to secure 73 seats.

According to notifications issued by the ECP, three reserved seats for minorities in the National Assembly have been allocated to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

Furthermore, two reserved seats for women in lower house of Parliament from Punjab have been allotted to PML-N and PPP.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s three minority seats have been allocated to PML-N, PPP, and JUI-F each securing one seat.

The ECP has also issued notifications for reserved seats for women in the Sindh Assembly. Notably, PPP’s Sumeta Afzal Syed and MQM-P’s Fouzia Hameed have been given the reserved seats for women. The reserved seat for minorities in Sindh Assembly has been given to PPP’s Sadhu Mal alias Surinder Valasai.