ISLAMABAD: Following the Supreme Court's decision on reserved seats, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) took action on Monday, suspending lawmakers elected on seats withheld from the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
As per the issued notification, 44 members of the ruling PML-N, along with 15 lawmakers from PPP, 13 from Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F), and one each from MQM-P, Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party, Awami National Party, Pakistan Muslim League, and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians, have been suspended.
In the KP Assembly, 21 lawmakers for women's reserved seats and 4 for minorities have been de-notified. Similarly, in the Punjab Assembly, 24 women lawmakers and 3 non-Muslim legislators have been de-notified, while in the Sindh Assembly, 2 female lawmakers and a minority member have been de-notified.
On May 7, a three-member SC bench led by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah suspended the verdicts of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Peshawar High Court (PHC) regarding the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) reserved seats. Justice Shah clarified that the suspension verdict only pertains to the allocation of additional seats and stressed the importance of accurately representing the people's mandate in Parliament.
The election commission redistributed reserved seats for women and minorities among other political parties. In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, one reserved seat each was allocated to Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and Pakistan People's Party (PPP), according to a notification.
In the Sindh Assembly, a reserved seat for women was allocated to Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and PPP. Additionally, PPP's Samita Afzal and MQM-P's Fouzia Hameed were elected on reserved seats.
PPP's Sadhu Mal, also known as Surinder Valasai, secured the minority seat in the Sindh Assembly. Furthermore, three reserved seats for minorities were allocated to PML-N, PPP, and JUI-F, which were contested by the Sunni Ittehad Council. PML-N's Neelam Meghwar, PPP's Ramesh Kumar, and JUI-F's James Iqbal were elected on the minority seats.
PTI candidates participated in the elections as independents after the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the election supervisor, considering its intra-party polls "unconstitutional," and revoked its claim on the electoral symbol of 'bat.'
According to the Constitution, reserved seats are allocated to political parties based on the number of their lawmakers elected on general seats.
The ECP had already received the priority list of candidates from the parties before the February 8 polls. This year's situation differs from previous elections as the largest group of lawmakers are independents, who are ineligible for reserved seats.
There are a total of 346 reserved seats for women across the National Assembly and provincial legislatures, along with reserved seats for minorities in various assemblies.
