{"id":65445,"date":"2024-02-28T13:53:07","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T13:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/ecp-reserves-verdict-in-sic-seats-case-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-02-28T13:53:07","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T13:53:07","slug":"ecp-reserves-verdict-in-sic-seats-case-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/ecp-reserves-verdict-in-sic-seats-case-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"ECP reserves verdict in SIC seats case | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nISLAMABAD:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) reserved on Wednesday its verdict on petitions pertaining to the allotment of reserved seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).<\/p>\n

The electoral watchdog was conducting a hearing on applications regarding the allotment of reserved seats to the SSIC – the party where most PTI-aligned independent lawmakers have taken refuge after the PTI lost its electoral symbol in the run-up to the February 8 elections.<\/p>\n

The ECP, stating that the decision is “pending before the commission”, also put on hold the notifications for the 10 reserved seats for women in the National Assembly and 21 reserved seats for women in the K-P Assembly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, lawyer Ali Zafar, and SIC Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza appeared before the electoral watchdog.<\/p>\n

PTI\u2019s Barrister Ali Zafar said that the Constitution of Pakistan stated that independent MNAs could join any political party and “it does not mean a parliamentary party”.<\/p>\n

He further said that if SIC was denied its reserved\u00a0seats, the elections for the Senate, office of prime minister, president, speaker and deputy speaker would be affected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the ECP reminded the PTI representatives that a list of candidates for reserved seats should be submitted before polls, which the SIC had failed to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja also shared a letter by the SIC with the PTI counsel stating that the party did not contest the general elections, and hence, does not want the reserve seats.<\/p>\n

Zafar said the party did not inform PTI about any such letter and expressed ignorance of the matter. “If the SIC does not want the reserve seats, why are you forcing them,” asked the CEC.<\/p>\n

During the hearing earlier today, CEC Raja said that the PTI lawyer had himself stated in the apex court that the party would not get reserved seats if it lost its electoral symbol.<\/p>\n

Zafar objected and said the ECP decided on Tuesday to notices to all parliamentary parties, to which the CEC replied that the watchdog had “not called all the parties, but only those who are entitled to special seats”.<\/p>\n

“All parties are not mentioned in the case. Four petitions of the SIC are before the ECP and the commission has kept our pleas pending, so other parties can submit their petitions and only then were our pleas fixed for hearing,” said Zafar.<\/p>\n

He added that after the PTI’s electoral symbol was withdrawn, the ECP had assured the party that it could still get reserve seats if the candidates joined another party.<\/p>\n

Read<\/strong>: SIC\u2019s reserved seat claim challenged<\/a><\/p>\n

The PTI lawyer further argued that the ECP’s counsel assured during the hearing at the apex court that the allotment of reserved seats would not be affected if the party lost its symbol. \u201cBut now our fears and predictions have been proved right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Member Ikramullah asked Zafar, \u201cDid the party you are referring to, participate in the elections?\u201d Zafar replied that if the PTI is not a party, why does its symbol still exist on the ECP’s list.<\/p>\n

Member Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa asked Zafar if they wanted the ECP to “cancel the registration of the party as well\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, it can be cancelled, but the process will have to be followed, SIC is a political party that has a symbol allotted by the ECP,” retorted Zafar.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) reserved on Wednesday its verdict on petitions pertaining to the allotment of reserved seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC). The electoral watchdog was conducting a hearing on applications regarding the allotment of reserved seats to the SSIC – the party where most PTI-aligned independent lawmakers have taken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/ECP1640860350-0\/ECP1640860350-0.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t