PHC nullifies ECP notifications on reserved seats

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) notification regarding the allotment of reserved seats for women and minorities in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly, citing discrepancies in the calculation of party posts.

The court delivered a two-page reserved judgment on a petition filed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) challenging the ECP’s decisions on reserved seats. In its judgment, the court directed that no oath be taken on the currently allocated reserved seats until a new decision is taken by the Election Commission.

The court ordered the ECP to complete the proceedings within ten days, giving a fair opportunity to all stakeholders to present their case.

The judgment came in response to a petition filed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), challenging the ECP’s procedure for allocating reserved seats on the basis of what it called “incomplete party posts”.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal declared both the ECP notifications null and void and directed the commission to make a fresh allotment of reserved seats after hearing all the concerned political parties including PML-N, PPPP, JUI-F, ANP and PTI.

During the proceedings, the petitioner’s counsel told the court that there are 26 reserved seats for women and 4 reserved seats for minorities in the KP Assembly. He argued that independent candidate Malik Tariq Awan, who won from PK-82, joined the PML-N on February 23, a day after his victory notification was issued. The party submitted its joining letter to the ECP on the same day.

With Awan’s joining, the PML-N’s strength in the assembly increased to seven, which should have an impact on the number of seats allotted to the party.

However, the ECP notification on March 4 gave one minority seat each to JUI-F, PML-N, and PPP, while the fourth seat was to be decided by drawing lots between JUI-F and PML-N. For the reserved seats for women, the ECP counted only six members for PML-N, ignoring Awan’s timely inclusion.