Pleas of JUI-F, its candidate rejected: ECP restores Sadaf Ihsan as returned candidate for NA seat

ISLAMABAD: The electoral entity has rejected the respective applications of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) and its nominee seeking to notify her membership on a National Assembly seat reserved for women while restoring another applicant as a returned candidate for the said seat.

In this context, a five-member full bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday issued its verdict in the case moved by JUI-F and its candidate Hina Bibi against Sadaf Ihsan.

The bench dismissed as being devoid of merits and facts, the applications of the JUI-F and its candidate.

Headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, the full bench comprised Nisar Ahmed Durrani, Shah Muhammad Jatoi, Babar Hassan Bharwana and Justice Ikram Ullah Khan (retd).

On 4 March 2024, the ECP notified Sadaf Ihsan as JUI-F’s Member National Assembly (MNA) for a women-reserved seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, nearly a month after 8 February general elections.

The JUI-F took the stance in this case that it listed four candidates; Shahida Begum, Naeema Kishwer, Hina Bibi and Sadaf Yasmin in the priority list for NA women-reserved seats.

Sadaf Ihsan, as per the JUI-F, was listed at serial number six in the political party’s NA women-reserved seats priority list.

Hina Bibi and JUI-F moved separate applications to the ECP with the contention that Sadaf Ihsan did not belong to JUI-F, and that she was not Sadaf Yasmin whose name was mentioned in the priority list submitted by the JUI-F before the returning officer concerned.

Resultantly, the ECP suspended Ihsan’s notification as an MNA till further orders. Ihsan challenged this decision before the PHC. The PHC, while accepting Ihsan’s writ petition, restored her as an MNA on the NA women-reserved seat from KP, and directed the parties to approach the election tribunal for decision in the matter.

The JUI-F and Hina Bibi challenged the PHC order before the Supreme Court.

The SC suspended Ihsan as an MNA. The matter finally landed in the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC).

The FCC remanded the matter to the ECP for a decision afresh within one-month time from the receipt of the order of the FCC. The FCC’s order, dated 24 December 2025, was received at the ECP on 31 December 2025, before the ECP issued its order on Wednesday.

Consequently, the electoral body issued a notification restoring the 4 March 2024 notification wherein Ihsan was declared as JUI-F’s returned candidate for the NA seat reserved for women from KP.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026