Assembly seat cut faces court challenge

PHC issues notices to ECP over petition challenging six NA seats reduction in K-P

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and other officials, including the finance secretary in response to a plea challenging the reduction of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) seats in the National Assembly during the new delimitation process under the 2023 census.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar and Shakeel Ahmed, accepted the petition and conducted a hearing. The petitioner, Muhammad Ajmal Advocate, asserted that the digital census had resulted in an undercounting of the population in K-P. He argued that this undercounting would lead to various issues for the province, including a reduction in development funds.

During the court proceedings, the advocate raised concerns about the participation of the caretaker chief minister in the Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting, deeming it unconstitutional. He advocated for holding elections based on the old constituencies and called for a recount of heads in districts where the annual growth rate was less than 2.55%.

Furthermore, the petitioner highlighted that K-P had lost six seats in the National Assembly following the recent census, criticizing the methodology employed for determining constituencies.

He contended that this reduction would result in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa receiving a smaller share of the National Finance Commission (NFC) award and further strain the resources of the province, particularly in the context of its struggles with terrorism.

Following the initial arguments, the PHC issued notices to the concerned authorities, requesting their responses at the upcoming hearing.

It's worth noting that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had recently reduced the strength of the National Assembly by six seats, bringing it down to 336.

This decision was driven by a reduction in the representation of newly-merged districts in K-P, which dropped from 12 to six during the fresh delimitation under the 2023 census.

The ECP also released a list of new constituencies, detailing the changes in both national and provincial assembly areas. As a result, the lower house of parliament will now have 266 general seats, with K-P's representation decreasing from 51 to 45 since the 2018 elections.

Peshawar DC summoned

The Peshawar High Court has issued a show-cause notice to Deputy Commissioner Peshawar over the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Peshawar President Irfan Saleem under Section 3 of Maintenance of Public Order (3 MPO).

Chief Justice Muhammad Ibrahim heard the case.

At the outset of the proceedings, Advocates Ali Zaman, Shah Faisal Utmankhel and Nadeem Shah appeared in the court on behalf of the petitioner, while Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Advocate General Amir Javed appeared on behalf of the provincial government.

The petitioner’s lawyers apprised the court that Saleem was the president of PTI Peshawar City and on Sept 27, the anti-terrorism court granted bail in the case pertaining to the attack on the radio station, while he was already granted bail in the cases related to May 9 and 10.

The lawyers apprised the court that despite the fact that their client got bail in all the cases, the police arrested him under 3 MPO and now he had been shifted to Dir Jail.

The bench issued a show-cause notice to the Peshawar DC, summoning him in personal capacity today (Tuesday).

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2023.