ECP reserves ruling on allotting reserved NA seats to Sunni Ittehad Council

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday reserved its ruling regarding allotment of reserved National Assembly seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

During the hearing at the ECP, PTI counsel Ali Zafar contended that the Commission was bound to give the seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council which had become the largest political party in the parliament.

To a question that SIC failed to win even a single seat in the National Assembly, Ali Zafar claimed that Article 51 of the Constitution was clear about it.

He said that the SIC was not demanding these seats in mercy and the ECP was legally bound to give these seats to them.

He urged the ECP that after the scrutiny the Commission should allot special seats to SIC.

The ECP five-member bench led Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja reserved the ruling hearing arguments of Sunni Ittehad Council.

Earlier, a letter written by ECP to Sunni Ittehad Council appeared on social media. In the letter the ECP had urged Sunni Ittehad Council to act upon section 206 of the ECP Act.

The letter further said not a single candidate contested election on the symbol of Sunni Ittehad Council.

Moreover, Sunni Ittehad Council also had not provide any list of women for the reserved seats while section 206 underlines that each and every political party must give at least five percent of its seats to women.

Reporter Usman Khan