SIC races to get its share of reserved seats

The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) on Wednesday approached the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), seeking the allocation of reserved seats in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies after the PTI sealed its alliance with the council.

The ECP was requested to allot the seats on the basis of the inclusion of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed candidates in their party.

A request, in this regard, drafted by SIC Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza was submitted with the polls supervisory body through a PTI representative.

On Monday, the PTI announced that its independent candidates would join the SIC to form governments at the Centre, in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a bid to secure reserved seats. The development came almost 10 days after the Feb 8 polls.

The party’s candidates were forced to contest the elections as independents after the apex court upheld the election supervisor’s decision, considering its intra-party polls “unconstitutional” and revoked its claim on the electoral symbol of ‘bat’.

The PTI-backed independent lawmakers, who just joined the SIC, clinched 93 seats in the lower house of parliament as well 84 and 116 in K-P and Punjab assemblies, respectively.

As per the Constitution, the reserved seats are allocated to the political parties on the basis of the number of their lawmakers elected on the general seats. For their allocation, the ECP had already received the priority list of candidates from the parties before the Feb 8 polls.

The situation this year is different from the previous elections as the largest group of lawmakers are independents, who cannot have the reserved seats.

There are a total of 346 reserved seats for women – 60 in the NA and 66, 29, 26, and 11 in the provincial legislatures of Punjab, Sindh, K-P, and Balochistan.

Similarly, there are 10 reserved seats for minorities in the lower house. Besides, there are eight, nine and three reserved seats for minorities in the Punjab Sindh, and Balochistan assemblies.

Based on the current election results, the PML-N is likely to bag 17 reserved seats for women in the NA, 33 in Punjab and one in Balochistan.

Besides, it will also be allocated two reserved seats for minorities in the lower house and four in Punjab.
The PPP will fetch 10 reserved seats in the NA from Sindh as well as a reserved seat each for women and minorities from Punjab in the lower house.

The party will receive 19 reserved seats for women and six for minorities in the Sindh Assembly. In addition, it will bag two reserved seats for minorities in the Punjab Assembly as well.

The MQM-P will bag four women's seats in the NA. It will also fetch six seats for women and two for minorities in the Sindh Assembly.

Based on these figures, if the PTI-backed members after their inclusion in the SIC, the party will be allocated 22 reserved seats for women in the NA, 20 in K-P, and 27 in Punjab, beside three seats for minorities.

Raza’s letter stated that 86 independent candidates of the National Assembly had joined the SIC, adding that 107 independents of Punjab Assembly, 90 of K-P Assembly and nine independent members of Sindh Assembly now garnered the support of the SIC.

The SIC requested the polls supervisory body to allocate reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies seats on these criteria.

The R and I branch of ECP received the letter and assigned the diary number.