Why did the fight for reserved seats intensify in Pakistan? HC extends ban on swearing in till March 13

This is the latest setback for former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) cannot claim the allotted reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies. PTI, unable to contest the recent elections due to a ban on its election symbol, directed its candidates to join the right-wing religious party to increase its numerical strength in the National Assembly. Now the Peshawar High Court extended till March 13 the order prohibiting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council from holding the swearing-in ceremony of MPs notified on deprived reserved seats. This order of the court came during the hearing on the petition of SIC regarding the allocation of reserved seats.

While adjourning the hearing of the case to the above date, the court also summoned Pakistan’s Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan to appear before the court on the next hearing. In a 22-page decision a day earlier, the five-member electoral body decided 4-1 that the SIC failed to submit party lists for reserved candidates before the ECP deadline of February 22, two weeks after the February 8 election. . There are a total of 70 reserved seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan which are distributed among parties based on their performance in the general elections. Similarly, there are a total of 149 reserved seats in the four provincial assemblies which are equally distributed.

SIC turns to LHC for reserved seats

SIC Chairman Hamid Raza on Thursday moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) to claim the party’s right to reserved seats in the NA. SIC has included ECP and others as parties in the petition. According to the petition, the election authority is neither a tribunal nor a court. The petition further requested that the SIC should get reserved seats in proportion to the seats in the Punjab Assembly. It does not matter whether Sunni Ittehad Council contested the elections or not, the petition said, adding that the ECP’s action amounts to an amendment to the Constitution.