Rejection of request to allot specific seats to Sunni Ittehad Council, decision to give specific seats to other parties
The Sunni Union Council did not submit priority lists on time, not entitled to reserved seats
Reserved seats will be distributed among other parties in proportion to their seats, reserved seats in the Assemblies cannot be left vacant, written decision issued.
Member Punjab Election Commission Babar Hasan Bharwana disagrees on giving special seats to other parties
ISLAMABAD ( Web News )
The Election Commission of Pakistan has rejected the request of the Sunni Ittehad Council for specific seats and has decided that the Sunni Ittehad Council cannot be released any specific seats, the Sunni Ittehad Council does not deserve the quota of women and minorities. The Election Commission, while approving the requests of other parties regarding the specific seats, has said in its decision that the specific seats will be distributed among the other parties in proportion to their seats, the specific seats of the assemblies cannot be kept vacant, the Election Commission said. The Sunni Ittehad Council issued a reserved decision on certain seats, the Election Commission issued a decision with a ratio of 1-4. A 5-member commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja reserved the decision last week while hearing the petitions. The Sunni Etihad Council’s request for allotment has been rejected. In a 22-page verdict issued by a majority of four to one, the Election Commission said that the Sunni Ittehad Council was not entitled to claim the reserved seats as it had violated the mandatory legal provision of submitting party lists for reserved seats. The letter said that the specific seats of the National Assembly will not be kept vacant, they will be allotted to them in proportion to the seats won by the political parties. The Chief Election Commissioner, Member Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan supported the majority decision. While member Punjab Babar Bharwana disagreed with the majority decision. Sunni Etihad Council should have been allotted 20 women and 3 minority seats in the National Assembly. Bharwana’s dissenting note came out.
Babar Hassan Bharwana, a dissenting member of the 5-member bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan, wrote a dissenting note and said that he partially agreed with the final decision, submitting the priority list on time was a legal requirement which was not done. He wrote that there is disagreement on the distribution of seats to other parties on the basis of proportional representation. The constitution is clear that specific seats should be allotted to political parties on the basis of general seats. These seats will be considered vacant. During the hearing held on February 28, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja made remarks while handing over the letter written by the Sunni Etihad Council to the Commission to the lawyer of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Barrister Ali Zafar. That the Sunni Ittehad Council does not want specific seats, so why are you forcing them? The Chief Election Commissioner, while giving the letter of the Sunni Ittehad Council to Barrister Ali Zafar, said that the head of the Sunni Ittehad Council wrote a letter to the Election Commission on February 26. In which the Sunni Ittehad Council said that it contested the general election, it did not want specific seats. Barrister Ali Zafar expressed his ignorance of the letter of the Sunni Ittehad Council and said that the Sunni Ittehad Council had not sent any such letter to the PTI. The Election Commission of Pakistan, after hearing the arguments of the parties, reserved its decision on the petition on February 28, which was released on Monday. The Election Commission decided to allot all the vacant reserved seats to other parties. The request to give reserved seats to PML-N, People’s Party, MQM, JUIF was approved, the Election Commission’s decision consists of 22 pages. Member Punjab Babar Hassan Bharwana disagreed with the decision to give seats to other political parties. During this hearing, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf founder member and lawyer Hamid Khan, PTI lawyer Barrister Gohar Ali, PTI Women Wing president Kanwal. Shuzab, Muslim League (N) lawyer Azam Nazir Tarar, Pakistan Peoples Party lawyer Farooq H. Naik, Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM Pakistan) lawyer Farogh Naseem, Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUIF) Kamran Murtaza, Sunni Ittehad Council Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza was present in the Election Commission. The PTI-backed MLAs joined the Sunni Ittehad Council after winning the elections without their electoral symbol. Later, the Sunni Ittehad Council wrote a letter to the Election Commission. which demanded allocation of reserved seats in the national and 3 provincial assemblies except for Balochistan. However, the Election Commission did not consider this request until other requests came against the allocation of reserved seats to the Sunni Unity Council. It was stated that the Sunni Ittehad Council is not a parliamentary party and has not submitted a preferred list of candidates for the reserved seats. The petitions of the council were attached and notices were issued to some other parliamentary parties. The Election Commission has so far withheld the allotment of 78 of the total 226 reserved seats for women in the National and Provincial Assemblies. According to the formula, all these seats were to be given to the Sunni Unity Council. Out of the total 60 reserved seats for women in the National Assembly, the Election Commission has so far allocated 40 seats to various political parties, including 20 of the total 32 seats in Punjab. 2 out of 10 seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, all 14 seats in Sindh and all four seats in Balochistan are included. Likewise, the Election Commission has so far allocated 7 seats out of 10 seats reserved for minorities in the National Assembly. 42 out of 66 reserved seats and 5 out of 8 reserved seats have been reserved for minorities. In the Sindh Assembly, the Election Commission has allocated 27 out of 29 reserved seats for women and 8 out of 9 reserved seats for minorities. In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, the Election Commission has allocated 5 out of 26 reserved seats for women and one out of 4 reserved seats for minorities. In the Balochistan Assembly, all 11 reserved seats for women and 3 reserved seats for minorities have already been reserved.