{"id":67293,"date":"2024-03-04T14:21:04","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T14:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/ecp-rejects-sunni-ittehad-councils-plea-seeking-allocation-of-reserved-seats\/"},"modified":"2024-03-04T14:21:04","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T14:21:04","slug":"ecp-rejects-sunni-ittehad-councils-plea-seeking-allocation-of-reserved-seats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/ecp-rejects-sunni-ittehad-councils-plea-seeking-allocation-of-reserved-seats\/","title":{"rendered":"ECP rejects Sunni Ittehad Council\u2019s plea seeking allocation of reserved seats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p>The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday rejected a petition filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council \u2014 the new face of the PTI \u2014 seeking the allocation of reserved seats.<\/p>\n<p>The 4-1 majority verdict, which was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1818696\/verdict-on-reserved-seats-for-sic-likely-after-pms-election\">reserved<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1816169\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The SIC was joined by PTI-backed lawmakers after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1812974\">winning elections<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<p>The ECP, however, did not consider the plea till applications piled up opposing the allocation of SIC\u2019s quota on the grounds that it was not a parliamentary party and had not submitted a priority list of candidates for the reserved seats.<\/p>\n<p>The applications against the allocation of reserved seats to SIC were heard for two days before SIC\u2019s applications were clubbed with the lately filed but sooner heard petitions opposing its quota, and notices were issued to some other parliamentary parties.<\/p>\n<p>After hearing arguments from all sides, the commission had reserved its verdict last week, a day before the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1818028\">maiden session<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<p>In the order issued today, a copy of which is available with <em>Dawn.com<\/em>, 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe records revealed that the SIC did not submit priority list for the reserved seats for women and non-Muslims,\u201d it noted, highlighting that the party requested the commission for the allocation of seats via four letters after PTI-backed independents joined it.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 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,\u201d the commission said.<\/p>\n<p>It also cited Section 104 of the Elections Act, 2017 which says: \u201cFor 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTherefore, 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 [\u2026] 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,\u201d the ECP order said.<\/p>\n<p>It rejected the SIC\u2019s petition and accepted pleas against the allocation of reserved seats to the council.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 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,\u201d the order said and directed the office to calculate the quota of reserved seats accordingly.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"dissent-note\" href=\"#dissent-note\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"\/>Dissent note<\/h2>\n<p>Meanwhile, in his dissent note, ECP member Babar Hassan Bharwana said that he \u201cpartially\u201d agreed with the other members of the bench that reserved seats cannot be allotted to the SIC as the party had submitted priority lists in time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever, I have dissenting views with regard to the allocation of seats by way of proportional representation to the other political parties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my opinion, Article 51(6-d) and Article 106(3-c) of the Constitution clearly state that reserved seats will be allocated to the political parties on the basis of total number of general seats secured by each political party from the province concerned in the National Assembly or such reserved seats secured by each political party in the Provincial Assembly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Bharwana added that the seats should therefore remain vacant till the time any such amendment in Article 51 or 106 of the Constitution was made by the Parliament.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"pti-to-challenge-verdict\" href=\"#pti-to-challenge-verdict\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"\/>PTI to challenge verdict<\/h2>\n<p>In a speech in the Senate after the verdict was released, PTI\u2019s Barrister Ali Zafar said his party would challenge the ECP order.<\/p>\n<p>He termed the election commission\u2019s judgment \u201cthe last dagger in the heart of democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf our share is being given to other parties then this is a constitutional mistake that the ECP has committed,\u201d Zafar stressed, highlighting that today\u2019s verdict had proven that the electoral watchdog failed to fulfil its responsibility of holding free and fair elections.<\/p>\n<p>He subsequently demanded the immediate resignation of the ECP and sought proceedings against the Chief Election Commissioner under Article 6 (treason) of the Constitution. Zafar added that the PTI had prepared a resolution in this regard which would be presented shortly.<\/p>\n<p>He further contended that the upcoming presidential and Senate elections could not be conducted in an \u201cincomplete house\u201d. The PTI leader noted that  the president, senators, speakers and deputy speakers, prime ministers and chief ministers were elected by assemblies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUntil the national and provincial assemblies are complete, elections can\u2019t be held for these constitutional positions. This was a clear point that we had presented to the election commission,\u201d Zafar added.<\/p>\n<p>Separately, in a post on social media platform X, the PTI said the electoral watchdog \u201ccontinues to disrespect the public mandate\u201d and called today\u2019s verdict another step \u201cto completely destroy democracy and electoral process in Pakistan\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBiased ECP has clearly and repeatedly violated their own rules repeatedly!\u201d the party said in a post on X.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"78-reserved-seats\" href=\"#78-reserved-seats\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"\/>78 reserved seats<\/h2>\n<p>The ECP had so far kept on hold the allocation of 78 out of the total 226 reserved seats for women in the national and provincial assemblies \u2014 all of which were to go to SIC, under the formula.<\/p>\n<p>Out of the total 60 reserved seats for women in the NA, the ECP has so far allocated 40 seats to different political parties. These include 20 of the total 32 for Punjab, two out of 10 for KP, all 14 from Sindh and all four from Balochistan. Likewise, it has allocated seven out of 10 seats reserved for minorities in the NA.<\/p>\n<p>Of the total 66 reserved seats for women in the Punjab Assembly, it had allocated 42 seats and five out of eight reserved for minorities. In the Sindh Assembly, it had allocated 27 of the total 29 seats reserved for women and eight out of nine reserved for minorities.<\/p>\n<p>It has allocated five out of total 26 reserved seats for women in the KP assembly and one out of four reserved for minorities.<\/p>\n<p>All the 11 reserved seats for women and three for minorities in the Balochistan Assembly have already been allocated.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday rejected a petition filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council \u2014 the new face of the PTI \u2014 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. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67294,"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.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/03\/04184233aa94527.jpg?r=184317","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-islamabad-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}