- SIC, after PHC and LHC, approaches Sindh High Court over reserved seats issue
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday accepted a petition filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) seeking allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities in the provincial assembly and ruled against counting the three reserved seats in tomorrow’s presidential election.
The court also issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan, the MQM, PPP and others to respond till March 28.
The party, joined by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed independent candidates who had won the February 8 general elections, filed the plea to claim reserved seats.
The court also accepted the PTI-backed party’s request for an urgent hearing of the petition in view of the importance of the matter.
The petition maintains that in a bid to bolster their legal standing, independently elected candidates belonging to the PTI had formally joined the Sunni Ittehad Council, amplifying their plea for representation.
The petition specifically advocates for the allocation of one reserved seat for minorities and two reserved seats for women to the SIC.
The federation, and the chief election commissioners of Pakistan and Sindh have been named as respondents in the petition, alongside political entities such as the PPP, MQM, and the successful candidates on reserved seats.
During the hearing, a division bench of the court summoned the SIC lawyers to discuss the case in chamber.
However, Sindh Advocate General Hasan Akbar and other government lawyers attempted to enter the chamber, but were barred by court staff.
Later, the AG was also called into the judge’s chamber.
On March 4, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ruled that PTI-backed SIC is not eligible for the reserved seats allotted to women and minorities.
Following the electoral body’s verdict, the party approached the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the reserved seats matter.
The court on Wednesday barred the oath-taking of lawmakers notified on reserved seats denied to the SIC. A stay order preventing members from swearing-in was also issued while ECP was directed to submit its response in the matter.
A day earlier, the PHC extended the stay order on the oath-taking ceremony of lawmakers till March 13, and summoned Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan to appear before the court on the next hearing.
The same day, SIC also approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the ECP’s move for not giving them reserved seats in Punjab.
ECP verdict on SIC reserved seats
In the verdict, the ECP said it extended the deadline to submit a priority list for the reserved seats of women, and the SIC, before the February 8 polls, did not submit the required list which was “mandatory”.
The electoral body said the SIC cannot claim the share in the reserved seats for the women “due to non-curable procedural and legal defects and violations of mandatory provisions of the Constitution”.
The ECP verdict cited Article 51(6), saying the article clearly stated the reserved seats would be allocated to the political parties who contested elections and won general seats based on a “proportional representation system”.
It further stated that the percentum share of each political party shall be worked out with reference to the total number of general seats in the National Assembly and the provincial assembly.
“The same formula is provided for the reserved seats for non-Muslims.”
While rejecting the plea of SIC, the ECP accepted applications of the opposing parties and decided that the seats in the National Assembly would not remain vacant and be allocated by a proportional representation process of political parties on the basis of seats won by political parties.
“[The] Office is directed to calculate the quota accordingly,” read the verdict.
