SIC reserved seats case: ECP Punjab member pens dissenting note

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) five-member bench rejected the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) plea, seeking the allocation of reserved seats with a split verdict of 4-1 as its member from Punjab Babar Hassan Bharwana wrote a dissenting note.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), and ECP members from Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan rejected the plea while its member from Punjab Babar Hassan Bharwana partially agreed with the decision.

In his dissenting note, Babar Hassan Bharwana maintained, “I agreed to this extent that the Sunni Union Council failed to submit a priority list for reserved seats for women and minorities on time,”

However, he was of the view that these reserved seats could not be allotted to other parties. He maintained that the reserved seats should be kept vacant until the amendment in Articles 51 and 106 of the Constitution 1973.

Babar Hassan Bharwana said in the dissenting note that “submitting the priority list on time was a legal requirement which was not done by the Sunni Ittehad Council but these seats cannot be distributed to other parties based on proportional representation.”

Earlier in the day, the ECP rejected the Sunni Ittehad Council’s petition, seeking the allocation of reserved seats following a ‘merger’ with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for this specific purpose.

The ECP was requested to allot the seats based on the inclusion of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-)-backed candidates in their party. In this regard, a request drafted by SIC Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza was submitted to the electoral watchdog through a PTI representative

After hearing arguments from all sides, the commission had reserved its verdict on Wednesday, a day before the maiden session of the National Assembly.

The electoral watchdog, in its decision today, PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council was not eligible for the reserved seats allotted to women and minorities.

The ECP announced the split decision with a 4-1 majority under Clause 6 of Article 53 of the Constitution and Section 104 of the Election Act. ECP Punjab member Hassan Bharwana dissented with the majority verdict