Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has faced a major setback as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has ruled that the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) is not eligible for reserved seats designated for women and minorities. The ECP’s five-member bench, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, revealed a split decision with a 4-1 majority, as ECP Punjab member Hassan Bharwana dissented.
The ECP emphasized that the SIC failed to submit a required priority list for the reserved seats before the February 8 polls, making them ineligible due to “non-curable procedural and legal defects.” Referring to Article 51(6) of the Constitution, the ECP clarified that reserved seats are allocated based on a proportional representation system, and the SIC cannot claim a quota share without meeting mandatory requirements.
Rejecting SIC’s plea, the ECP accepted applications from other parties, ensuring that National Assembly seats will not remain vacant. Instead, seats will be allocated through a proportional representation process based on the winning parties’ overall performance. The decision follows the February 8 elections, where PTI-backed independent candidates secured the most National Assembly seats, leading with 92, followed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with 79 and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 54. Reserved seats were distributed among parties according to their assembly strength, excluding the PTI-backed SIC.
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