By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday rejected a petition by a group of former prime minister Imran Khan’s backed lawmakers who had joined Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) after winning seats as independents, denying them the right to claim reserved seats for women and minorities in the parliament.
The commission said the SIC, which had been joined by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party- backed independent candidates after the Feb. 8 general elections, had failed to submit a priority list for the reserved seats before the deadline, which was a “mandatory” requirement.
The decision was a blow to Khan’s party, which had hoped to increase its strength in the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, ahead of a crucial presidential election, by securing some of the 60 seats reserved for women and 10 for minorities.
Khan’s party had won 92 of the 272 directly elected seats in the elections, followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz with 79 and the Pakistan Peoples Party with 54.
The lawmakers who had backed Khan’s party had contested the elections without a party symbol and later joined the religious alliance. They had written to the commission seeking the allocation of reserved seats in the national and three provincial assemblies, excluding Balochistan.
The commission had reserved its verdict on the petition on Feb. 28, a day before the first session of the new Parliament, creating uncertainty over the final tally of seats.
On Monday, the commission announced its verdict with a 4-1 majority, with one member from Punjab province dissenting.
The ECP decision said the SIC was not entitled to claim a quota for reserved seats due to having “non – curable legal defects and a violation of a mandatory provision of submission of a party list for reserved seats which is the requirement of law.”
The commission also said the seats in the National Assembly would not remain vacant and would be allotted to other political parties.
“The seats in the National Assembly shall not remain vacant and will be allotted by the proportional representation process of political parties on the basis of seats won by political parties,” the order said.
The verdict sparked a strong reaction from Khan’s party, which accused the chief election commissioner of committing high treason.
Senator Ali Zafar, a senior leader of Khan’s party, demanded the immediate resignation of the commission and sought proceedings against the chief election commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, under Article 6 of the Constitution, which deals with high treason.
Speaking in the Senate, the upper house of Parliament, Zafar said his party had prepared a resolution to condemn the commission’s decision, which he called “the last dagger in the heart of democracy.”
“The commission had violated the Constitution by depriving the SIC of its rightful share of seats and by failing to hold free and fair elections,” Zafar said. “If our share is being given to other parties then this is a constitutional mistake that the ECP has committed.”
The party will challenge the ECP decision in the high court.
Zafar said the presidential and Senate elections, which are due later this month, could not be held in an incomplete Parliament.
“Until the national and provincial assemblies are complete, elections can’t be held for these constitutional positions. This was a clear point that we had presented to the election commission.”
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