A five-member bench, headed by CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja, conducted the hearing today.
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday reserved verdict on the petitions filed by the Sunni Itthad Council (SIC) seeking allocation of seats for women and minorities.
A five-member bench, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, conducted the hearing today.
The electoral body accepted the petition after President Alvi refused to sign a summary by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs requesting the convening of a session of the National Assembly.
President Alvi maintained that the remaining reserved seats should be allocated before convening the National Assembly session which, according to the Constitution, was to be held within 21 days of the elections.
In the previous hearing, CEC Raja consolidated all the petitions filed by SIC, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
MQM-P lawyer Farogh Naseem, SIC lawyer Ali Zafar, PPP lawyer Farooq H Naek and PML-N leader Azam Nazeer Tarar appeared before the five-member court.
At the beginning of the hearing, lawyer Zafar presented his arguments saying that 86 independents, who won seats in the National Assembly, joined the SIC.
“A political party has the right to form a government and participate in elections and the SIC is a political party that is registered and has an electoral symbol,” Zafar said.
He said the SIC has the right to form the government if independent candidates join the party.
Given this, a member of the commission said that the SIC did not participate in the February 8 elections.
Lawyer Zafar then stated that independents will play an important role in the presidential elections and added that it is written in the Constitution who will get the reserved seat.
More to continue…
