The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday rejected the application of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) for reserved seats for women and minorities in the National Assembly.
The SIC, a party backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), sought these seats through an application that stirred controversy and led to a prolonged deliberation by the electoral body.
A five-member bench, presided over by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, reached a 4-1 verdict, declaring that the Sunni Ittehad Council is not entitled to reserved seats in the National Assembly.
The ECP maintained that these seats would be distributed among other political parties based on their proportional representation. The commission emphasised that reserved seats in the assemblies cannot be left vacant.
However, it’s worth noting that ECP Punjab member Babar Hassan Bharwana dissented from the majority decision, expressing disagreement with the allocation of reserved seats to other political parties.
The controversy surrounding the allocation of reserved seats for the SIC intensified after a ‘merger’ with the PTI for this specific purpose. The ECP faced criticism for delaying a verdict, leaving the matter unresolved as the National Assembly convened its maiden sitting last week. The PTI had previously announced its intention to escalate the matter to the Supreme Court if the reserved seats were allocated to other parties.
The controversy took another turn last week when the ECP revealed that SIC Chairman Hamid Raza had allegedly written a letter refusing to accept the reserved seats. Raza vehemently denied this claim, adding a layer of confusion and intrigue to an already complex situation.
The rejection of the SIC’s application by the ECP has added fuel to the ongoing debate about the impartiality and transparency of the electoral process in the country.
Responding to the verdict, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) decided to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court.
In his address during a Senate session following the verdict, PTI’s Barrister Ali Zafar said that the ECP’s decision is a stab in the back of democracy. He emphasised that it is the responsibility of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies to elect senators, the president, the prime minister, and the chairman Senate, and incomplete assemblies cannot fulfil these elections.
He said that Section 6 (D) of the Constitution’s Article 51 mentions that political parties will be allocated reserve seats based on their success ratio. He highlighted that according to the Constitution, if an independent candidate joins a political party, that party is entitled to reserve seats, adding that SIC should have been allotted 29 seats in NA.
He criticized the decision of the ECP, stating, “The Supreme Court deprived us of electoral symbols through unconstitutional decisions, while the ECP has stabbed democracy in the back by not allocating reserve seats today.”
“After the decision of the ECP, presidential and Senate elections should be postponed because we have been deprived of our reserve seats. We will go to the Supreme Court to reverse this illegal move, and then prime minister, presidential elections, and Senate elections will have to be held again,” he asserted.