ECP rejects Sunni Ittehad Council’s plea seeking allocation of reserved seats – Pakistan

Table of Contents

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday rejected a petition filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council — the new face of the PTI — seeking the allocation of reserved seats.

The 4-1 majority verdict, which was reserved last week, was issued by a five-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja. ECP member Babar Hassan Bharwana dissented from the judgment in an additional note.

The SIC was joined by PTI-backed lawmakers after winning elections sans their poll symbol, and the council had written to the ECP seeking allocation of reserved seats in the national as well as three provincial assemblies, excluding Balochistan.

The ECP, however, did not consider the plea till applications piled up opposing the allocation of SIC’s quota on the grounds that it was not a parliamentary party and had not submitted a priority list of candidates for the reserved seats.

The applications against the allocation of reserved seats to SIC were heard for two days before SIC’s applications were clubbed with the lately filed but sooner heard petitions opposing its quota, and notices were issued to some other parliamentary parties.

After hearing arguments from all sides, the commission had reserved its verdict last week, a day before the maiden session of the National Assembly, allowing the controversy to simmer. Subsequently, the ECP caught flak for delaying the decision as it paved the way for an incomplete assembly to meet.

In the order issued today, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the electoral watchdog said it had given a deadline of Dec 22 for the submission of nomination papers by political parties for reserved seats. It said the deadline was later extended till Dec 24.

“The records revealed that the SIC did not submit priority list for the reserved seats for women and non-Muslims,” it noted, highlighting that the party requested the commission for the allocation of seats via four letters after PTI-backed independents joined it.

The ECP further stated that the SIC did not contest elections for any seat in the national or provincial assemblies and even the party chairman, Sahibzada Hamid Raza, contested the polls as an independent candidate.

“In Article 51 of the Constitution it is clear that political parties that have representation in the National Assembly by way of winning seats would be eligible for the allocation of reserved seats for women and non-Muslims through proportional representation system,” the commission said.

It also cited Section 104 of the Elections Act, 2017 which says: “For the purpose of election to seats reserved for women and non-Muslims in an Assembly, the political parties contesting election for such seats shall, within the period fixed by the Commission for submission of nomination papers, file separate lists of their candidates in order of priority for seats reserved for women and non-Muslims with the Commission or, as it may direct, with the Provincial Election Commissioner or other authorized officer of the Commission, who shall forthwith cause such lists to be published for information of the public.”

“Therefore, the commission is of the view that in light of clear provisions of Article 51(6) of the Constitution read with Section 104 of the Elections Act, 2017 […] SIC is not entitled to claim quota for reserved seats due to having non curable legal defects and violation of a mandatory provision of submission of party list for reserved seats which is the requirement of law,” the ECP order said.

It rejected the SIC’s petition and accepted pleas against the allocation of reserved seats to the council.

“The seats in the National Assembly shall not remain vacant and will be allotted by proportional representation process of political parties on the basis of seats won by political parties,” the order said and directed the office to calculate the quota of reserved seats accordingly.

Source Link

Website | + posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to content