K-P Assembly may meet on Feb 27

Delay in the allocation of the reserved seats in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly has pushed back the maiden session of the provincial legislature until next week, as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) mulls over the request of the majority party, the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).

The ECP allocated five reserved seats for women in K-P Assembly to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), while delaying the allocation of remaining 21 reserved seats for women and four for minorities.

The inaugural session of the assemblies has to be called within 21 days after the elections, which makes February 29 the last date. Sources said that initially the session was expected on February 24, but because of the delay on the reserved seats, the session had been pushed back to February 27.

In the province, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independents swept the elections, gaining a three-fourths majority in the house. However, as per the law, independents could not be allocated any of the reserved seats.
In order to be eligible to get the reserved seats, the PTI decided that their winning candidates would join the SIC and get their share from the 26 reserved seats for women and 4 minorities to further strengthen their position in the 145-strong legislature.

The sources said that the SIC had applied for the allocation of reserved seats and had provided its priority lists, adding that the matter was pending with the ECP. Until the allocation of seats, the inaugural session could not be convened.
Initially, the sources said, the maiden assembly session was proposed on February 24, when the newly-elected members of the provincial assembly were supposed to take oath. Now, according to the sources the house could be convened on February 27.

Meanwhile, the ECP notified the allocation of two reserved seats for women to the JUI -- Rehana Ismail and Asma Alam. Similarly, the PML-N’s Shobia Shahid and Shehla Bano were also notified as the returning candidates on the reserved seats. The one seat allocated to the PPP went to Nilofar Babar.