LHC turns down SIC plea for stay on allocation of reserved seats

Court instructs federal, provincial govts to submit replies in next hearing

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday turned down the Sunni Ittehad Council's (SIC) request for issuing a stay on the allotment of reserved seats in light of the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) new schedule. 

Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal fixed the next hearing and instructed the federal and provincial governments to submit their replies. 

Advocate General Punjab Khalid Ishaq argued that some lawmakers had already taken oath, hence the reply will be submitted to the extent of those who have yet to be sworn in. 

Petitioner’s counsel Chaudhry Ishtiaq A Khan requested the court to stay the process of swearing in to which Justice Iqbal remarked that the replies by the respondents should first be submitted. 

Earlier, the SIC, a coalition of lawmakers backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), filed a petition in the LHC challenging the recent decision of the ECP to allocate reserved seats meant for it to other political parties.

The SIC, which was denied its requested reserved seats earlier, claimed the ECP's decision is illegal, unlawful, and goes against the Constitution.

The ECP, following the rejection of the SIC's request, initiated the process of allocating the disputed reserved seats to other parliamentary parties. According to notifications issued by the commission, reserved seats for minorities and women have been distributed among various parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

In the petition, SIC Chairman Sahibzada Muhammad Hamid Raza labelled the ECP's order as unconstitutional and requested the court to suspend its operation. The petition also urged the court to restrain the respondents from taking oath until a final decision is reached.

The SIC argued that the ECP's allocation of reserved seats was not in line with the Constitution and requested the court to direct the commission to allocate seats based on the party's strength in the National Assembly and the provincial assembly of Punjab.

Advocate Ishtiaq A. Khan, representing the SIC, contended that the petitioner had written four letters to the ECP on February 21, 2024, seeking the party's rightful share in the reserved seats. The ECP, however, allegedly ignored these requests and scheduled a preliminary hearing on February 27, 2024.

The petition further highlighted that the ECP, in its order announced on March 4, 2024, refused to allocate the reserved seats to the SIC and directed them to be allotted to other parties. The SIC argued that the ECP misinterpreted and misapplied the relevant provisions of the Constitution and the Election Act, 2017.

The SIC's chairman emphasised that the election commission's reliance on the election schedule and date for submission of the priority list, as per Section 104 of the Election Act, should not supersede the provisions of Article 51 of the Constitution.