SARDAR SIKANDER

SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has reserved its verdict in the reserved seats case involving five political parties and their 71 candidates.

A five-member ECP full bench heard the case on Monday.

The legal counsels from the political parties concerned appeared before the bench and gave arguments in favour of the allocation of reserved seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly to the respective political parties, before the bench reserved the verdict, likely to be announced in the coming days. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) has submitted 21 nominations for the seats reserved for women and non-Muslims in KPA. Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) has submitted 15 nominations, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) 14 nominations, Awami National Party (ANP) 11 nominations and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTIP) has submitted 10 nominations to the ECP for KPA reserved seats.

The allocation of reserved seats on the part of ECP on 2nd July, in pursuance of the apex court’s 27th June order, suggested that PML-N has received the largest chunk of 43 reserved seats, followed by 15 reserved seats having gone to PPP, and 12 seats to JUI-F, as the poll body has allotted a total of 74 of 77 reserved seats to other political parties in four Assemblies.

In KPA, of the 25 allotted seats, comprising 21 women and four non-Muslim seats, JUI-F received 10 seats (eight women, two non-Muslims), PML-N got seven reserved seats (six women and a non-Muslim), PPP also got seven reserved seats (six women and a non-Muslim), and ANP received a woman seat.