SIC not entitled to reserved seats, ECP tells apex court

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) informed the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan that the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) is not entitled to reserved seats, ARY News reported.

In a reply submitted to the apex court in the case pertaining to the SIC’s reserved seats, the ECP maintained that The Hamid Raza-led party failed to submit the list of nominees for the reserved seats by the deadline of December 24^th

The ECP added that it asked the independent candidates joined the SIC after the elections. “The ECP decided not to give reserved seats to the SIC with a 4-1 verdict,” the reply added.

The ECP told the SC that the Peshawar High Court (PHC) also upheld its decision. The election watchdog maintained that there is no error in the decision of the ECP as well as the PHC.

“According to the constitution of the SIC, a non-Muslim cannot become a member of the party. The provision against the inclusion of non-Muslims in the constitution of SIC is unconstitutional, answer. The SIC is not entitled to reserved seats for women and minorities,” the ECP reply added.

The SC full court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa will hear the SIC’s plea on June 24.

Read More: SIC reserved seats: SC to hear case on June 24

On May 6, Supreme Court suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Peshawar High Court’ (PHC) verdict on Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) reserved seats.

The three-member bench headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah suspended the verdict pertaining to the allocation of reserved seats to other political parties.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah said that the case has been fixed for hearing and “we are suspending the ECP and PHC verdicts.”

Reserved seats 

The election commission distributed the reserved seats for women and minorities among other political parties.

In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly – according to a notification, the ECP allocated one reserved seat each to Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

In Sindh Assembly – allocated reserved seat for women to Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and PPP. PPP’s Samita Afzal and MQM-P’s Fouzia Hameed elected on reserved seats.

Furthermore, PPP’s Sadhu Mal alias Surinder Valasai secured minority seat in Sindh Assembly.

The ECP allocated three reserved seats for minorities to PML-N, PPP and JUI-F – which were claimed by Sunni Ittehad Council. PML-N’s Neelam Meghwar, PPP’s Ramesh Kumar and JUI-F’s James Iqbal were elected on the minority seats.