The Peshawar High Couty (PHC) larger bench on Thursday extended the stay order till March 13 in PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) plea barring Speaker National Assembly of oath-taking from new lawmakers notified on reserved seats denied to SIC, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The 5-member larger bench chaired by Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim heard the petition of SIC against Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision.
Babar Awan and Qazi Anwar appeared on behalf of PTI backed SIC.
During the hearing, the additional attorney general pleaded to the court that due to the absence of Attorney General of Pakistan, the proceeding of the case should be deferred which was accepted by PHC larger bench and extended the stay order till March 13.
On Wednesday PCH issued a stay order and had directed the ECP to submit its response in the said matter by Thursday (today). The SIC had challenged the ECP's verdict, wherein it rejected the SIC's plea for allocation of reserved seats.
The ECP instead decided that the seats in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies would be allocated to other political parties by a proportional representation process.
In its ruling, the ECP said that the SIC could not claim the share in the reserved seats for the women "due to legal defects and violations of mandatory provisions of the Constitution."
The reserved seats were awarded to all other political parties as per their party position in the assemblies, except SIC.