Reserved seats: Replies sought from ECP

LAHORE: Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday sought replies from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the law secretary on a petition challenging the procedure for selection of women on reserved seats in the national and Punjab assemblies.

Petitioner Tariq Aziz Malik submitted that women were nominated to 188 seats in the national and provincial assemblies. This was unconstitutional and illegal as Article-226 states that all elections would be held by secret ballot, he said.

He said these reserved seats cost the national exchequer almost Rs1 billion in salaries, perks and privileges each year. He said there was no justification for the allocation. Those seats could be allotted to technocrats, he said. Malik submitted that the Supreme Court had stated that elections to reserved seats were ultra vires of the Constitution. He prayed the court to declare the nomination of women to reserved seats as unconstitutional.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2013.