ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) dismissed Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) petition against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision regarding the election of Sadaf Ihsan on a reserved seat.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Aamer Farooq on Thursday heard the JUI-F’s appeal.
The Commission on January 29, 2026 had restored Sadaf Ihsan JUI-F MNA on the seat reserved for women. The JUI-F challenged the decision before the FCC.
During the hearing, counsel for JUI-F informed the bench that the party had submitted four names for reserved seats. The counsel argued that the ECP could not make changes to the list submitted by a political party for reserved seats.
“This is a unique case in Pakistan’s history,” the JUI-F lawyer said. He maintained that JUI-F had stated that Sadaf Ihsan was not its candidate, but the party was being told otherwise. The counsel further maintained that if a political party had submitted an incorrect list, the ECP could have asked it to make corrections.
After hearing the arguments, the FCC upheld the ECP’s decision and dismissed JUI-F’s appeal.
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 the 8 February general elections.
The JUI-F contended before the Commission 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 a decision in the matter.
The JUI-F and Hina Bibi challenged the PHC order before the Supreme Court, which suspended Ihsan as an MNA. The matter finally landed in the FCC, which remanded the matter to the ECP for a decision afresh within one-month time.
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
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