The Pakistan Electoral Commission (ECP) reserved a verdict on Monday in a case on the distribution of seats reserved in the assembly of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa after hearing the arguments of all parties involved.
A bench of five ECP members, led by the chief election commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, led the audience. The case involved five political parties, focusing on the distribution of seats reserved following the province’s elections.
Representatives of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-E-Islam (JUI-F), the Pakistani peoples’ parliamentarian (PPPP), the National Party of Awami (ANP) and Pakistan Tehrek-e-insaf Parliamentarians (PTI-P) presented their arguments. The key points raised included the criteria for the allocation of the seats, the notification dates and the deadline for candidates to join the political parties.
JUI-F KAMRAN MONTAZA lawyer argued that the notification for all the seats reserved at the national level could not be withdrawn from a KP seat.
The lawyer for PML-N, Aamir Javed, asked how PML-N and JUI-F had the same number of general seats, seven each, but JUI-F received 10 reserved seats while PML-N obtained only eight. He said the case should be resolved by a draw in accordance with legal provisions.
Murtaza added that at the time of the allowance, Jui-F had seven eligible candidates while PML-N had six. He also added that Tariq Awan, who won as an independent, did not join the PML-N in the three-day period required after the elections.
Meanwhile, PPPP lawyer Nayyar Bukhari stressed that the case of his party was different and was to be discussed after the resolution of the dispute between PML-N and JUI-F. The ANP lawyer argued that the allocation of the seats should reflect the situation immediately after the general elections.
PTI lawyer has feared that two of their representatives be considered one in the allocation process, stressing that the reserved seats should be directly correlated with general seats and must be distributed accordingly. He stressed the importance of establishing a clear cut -off date, warning that inclusion of the partial elections in the calculations could further complicate the problem.
During the hearing, the member of the ECP, Nisar Durrani, asked if the reserved seats of a part were to be reduced if he loses seats in the following partial elections. PTI’s lawyer replied that such a reduction would not be valid. After hearing all the arguments, the ECP reserved its judgment.
PHC rule
On July 9, the High Court of Peshawar (PHC) canceled the distribution of the seats reserved for the KP assembly and ordered the ECP to redistribute the seats after hearing the parties. A bench of two members, including judge Syed Arshad Ali and judge Dr Khurshid Iqbal, announced the judgment reserved on the PML-N petition against the distribution of reserved seats.
In its two-page judgment, it was reported, the court declared Null and canceled both the ECP announcements concerning the allocation of seats reserved for women and minorities. He said that ECP should reallocate these seats after hearing all the candidates and political parties within 10 days.
The report added that the court had delayed the legislators’ oath on the seats reserved until the PCE’s decision. The court also judged that the deadline for ECP for independent candidates to join any political party of the Provincial Assembly by February 22, 2024 was unconstitutional.
The report added that the KP assembly includes 124 legislators – 99 elected officials on general seats, in addition to 21 seats reserved for women and four seats reserved for non -Muslims. The reserved seats are only allocated to the political parties of the Chamber according to their strength.
After the general elections of February 8, 2024, the PCE allocated the seats reserved for political parties, excluding the self -employed, which were supported by PTI and trained a majority in the House. However, the case dragged for more than a year before the courts, until recently settled before the Supreme Court.
PHC’s decision had ordered the ECP to redistribute these seats after hearing the PML-N, JUI-F, PPP, ANP and PTI-Parliamentaments.
