ISLAMABAD: After much debate, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has agreed to hold an open hearing on the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) appeal for reserved seats after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPs joined their ranks.
The judgment comes as the electoral watchdog is expected to make a decision on the allocation of the reserved seats today. However, the ECP has declared that the open hearing will be held tomorrow by a five-member bench of the electoral authority.
It also served notices against Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, SIC, Mahmood Khan, Maulvi Iqbal Haider, and Kunz-us-Saadat.
The move comes shortly after it was revealed that President Alvi allegedly refused to sign a Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs summary requesting the convening of a National Assembly session.
President Alvi has urged that the remaining reserved seats be allocated before convening the NA session, which is required by the Constitution to be held within 21 days following the elections.
Following his refusal, departing National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf “decided” to hold the first session of the new lower chamber of parliament on February 29, well-placed sources stated Monday.
The PTI-affiliated independent lawmakers joined the SIC in an effort to keep reserved seats, as the Constitution requires parliamentary parties represented in the several chambers to have a quota of reserved seats for women and minorities.
Last Monday, these PTI-affiliated independents joined the SIC in both the National and Punjab assemblies.
The objective behind this arrangement was that the PTI independents would become parliamentary group in the houses so they could avail the reserved seats.
Well-placed sources told The News that the SIC had approached the ECP and asked it to accept their contention of entitlement to reserved seats but ironically hadn’t submitted the list of its nominees for reserved seats till Sunday; the ECP was open on Sunday, despite it being a holiday.
