The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) adjourned on Tuesday an open hearing on the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) plea seeking allocation of the reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies.

A five-member bench of the ECP, being headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and comprising of Nisar Ahmed Durrani, Shah Muhammad Jatoi, Babar Hassan Bharwana and Ikramullah Khan, is hearing these cases.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Barrister Gohar Khan hoped that the ECP would listen to “what the people voted for on February 8”.

Gohar said that the reserved seats belong to SIC and no other political party can lay claim to them.

Section 104(1) of the Elections Act 2017 states that for the election to seats reserved for women and non-Muslims in an assembly, the political parties contesting elections for such seats shall, within the period fixed by the Commission for submission of nomination papers, file separate lists of their candidates in order of priority for seats reserved for women and non-Muslims.

The PTI announced last week that its party-backed independents who have won seats in National, KP, and Punjab assemblies would join the SIC as a party.

ECP to conduct open hearing for SIC reserved seats tomorrow

The recent election saw PTI-backed candidates taking part independently due to the Supreme Court’s decision to strip the party of its election symbol ‘bat’.

Despite running as independents, the elected representatives were mandated by the Election Act, 2017 to join a political party within three days of the notification.