Pakistan court bars oath taking for candidates allotted reserved seat

Post February 8 polls, almost 93 independently elected candidates backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had joined the right-wing SIC to receive its share of reserved seats for women and minorities.

Peshawar: In yet another post-poll legal complication, a Pakistan court on Wednesday barred till Thursday the oath-taking of those candidates who were allotted reserved seats in the National Assembly that the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) has claimed should have been given to it.

Post February 8 polls, almost all 93 independently elected candidates backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had joined the right-wing SIC to receive its share of reserved seats for women and minorities.

A total of 266 seats of the lower house of Parliament were up for grabs out of the 336 while 60 seats were reserved for women and 10 for minorities. The reserved seats are allotted proportionately to the winning parties based on their numbers.

On Monday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ruled that 71-year-old Khan’s PTI-backed SIC is not eligible for the reserved seats allotted to women and minorities in Parliament and their share of seats should be allocated to other parties.

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday issued the stay order preventing the PTI-backed SIC members from swearing in and directed the ECP to submit its response by Thursday.

The directives were issued by the two-member bench comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Shakeel Ahmad on a petition filed by the SIC.

At the outset of the hearing today, the court questioned whether the high court can be moved on the issue of reserved seats.

The petitioner's lawyer Qazi Anwar cited Articles 51 and 106 of the Constitution stressing that the PTI-backed independent candidates had joined the SIC within the three-day deadline.

This is an accepted fact, and no one can ignore it, said Justice Ibrahim.

Anwar lamented the decision of the ECP regarding the distribution of the reserved seats to other parties. “Women and minorities’ reserved seats are our right,” he said.

The court notified the Attorney General and the Advocate General to assist the court in the matter and then referred the case to the PHC Chief Justice for the constitution of a larger bench to hear the case.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) initially won 75 general seats in the February 8 polls. Nine independent candidates joined it, taking their share to 84.

The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) had won 54 seats. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan (MQM-P) party has won 22 members while the number of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) lawmakers is seven.

To deny power to Khan-backed candidates, the PML-N and the PPP along with four smaller parties came up with a post-poll alliance. Its joint candidate Shehbaz Sharif took oath on Monday.

Media reports on Wednesday said the PML-N was allocated 19 reserved seats for women and four reserved seats for minorities, taking its total tally to 107. The PPP was allocated 12 seats reserved for minorities and two for women, taking its total to 68.

However, after the ECP denied the PTI-backed SIC of reserved seats, the PML-N was further allocated 15 out of the remaining 20 reserved seats for women and one out of the three remaining seats reserved for minorities, taking its tally to 123 seats and making it the largest party in the National Assembly.

Similarly, the number of seats of PPP too has risen to 73 from the earlier 68 as it was allocated four more seats reserved for women and one for minorities. The number of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) lawmakers has increased to 11.

In its ruling, the ECP stated that the SIC could not 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 reserved seats were awarded to all remaining political parties according to their strength.