ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has reserved its decision on Wednesday regarding the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) request for reserved seats in both national and provincial assemblies.
Chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, a five-member bench of the ECP convened to hear the SIC plea along with six other petitions opposing it.
During the hearing, Barrister Ali Zafar presented arguments, asserting that PTI-backed independent candidates had affiliated themselves with the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) post-election victory. He contended that these candidates were entitled to reserved seats in the assembly.
Zafar highlighted that despite PTI’s submission of a reserved seats list, the candidates ran as independents after losing the party symbol. He clarified that the request for reserved seats was made subsequent to joining SIC.
Conversely, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Azam Nazir Tarar objected to the allocation of seats to SIC, citing the party’s non-participation in the elections.
Tarar emphasized SIC’s announcement of abstention from the February 8 elections following the ECP’s pre-poll code of conduct letter.
Questioning the legitimacy under Section 104 of the Election Act, Tarar raised concerns over granting reserved seats to SIC, which lacked public support.
Similarly, JUI-F’s Kamran Murtaza opposed the allocation of reserved seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council, arguing that SIC had not submitted a list for reserved seats, rendering the request untenable. Additionally, Farogh Naseem, representing MQM, joined in opposing the allocation of reserved seats to SIC.
