Pakistan: Peshawar High Court restrains oath-taking on reserved seats amid row

Peshawar [Pakistan], March 6 (ANI): The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday restrained elected members of reserved seats from taking oath after hearing the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) petition against the ruling of the Election Commission of Pakistan over the allocation of reserved seats to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), ARY News reported.
According to the report, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday notified the allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities, which were claimed by PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), to other political parties.
The court order came a day after the electoral body rejected the SIC petition seeking the allocation of reserved seats following a merger with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
In the order, the High Court restrained elected members of reserved seats from oath-taking and also issued notices to the Election Commission and other respondents.
The court ordered the Speaker, not to administer oaths to members elected on reserved seats till tomorrow (Thursday).
A high court division bench comprised of Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Shakeel Ahmed heard the case.
ARY News reported that following the allocation of reserved seats, PML-N became the largest parliamentary party in the National Assembly (NA) with 123 seats, followed by PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) with 82 seats. Meanwhile, the Bilawal Bhutto-led PPP managed to secure 73 seats.
According to notifications issued by the ECP, three reserved seats for minorities in the National Assembly have been allocated to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).
Furthermore, two reserved seats for women in the lower house of Parliament from Punjab have been allotted to PML-N and PPP.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's three minority seats have been allocated to PML-N, PPP, and JUI-F each securing one seat, ARY News reported.
The ECP has also issued notifications for reserved seats for women in the Sindh Assembly. Notably, PPP's Sumeta Afzal Syed and MQM-P's Fouzia Hameed have been given the reserved seats for women. The reserved seat for minorities in Sindh Assembly has been given to PPP's Sadhu Mal alias Surinder Valasai. (ANI)