On Monday, the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) petitioned the Supreme Court to review a Peshawar High Court (PHC) decision. This ruling had previously stripped the party of seats for women and minorities. Concurrently, the speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly sought redress from the PHC regarding its command for him to swear in MPAs designated for reserved seats.
The petition, initiated by SIC Chairman Sahibzada Mohammad Hamid Raza and represented by senior counsel Faisal Siddiqui, targets the March 14 PHC verdict. It underscores that following an alliance with independent candidates who succeeded in the February 8 elections, the SIC stands against the judgment that sidelines it from reserved seat allocation. With a majority decision, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had previously declared that the SIC could not claim reserved seat quotas due to specific legal flaws and failing to adhere to the required submission of a party list for these seats.
The SIC informed the Supreme Court that the PHC’s conclusion was flawed, citing misinterpretations of constitutional and legal principles concerning proportional representation. It contended that the legal stipulation to submit candidate lists for reserved seats pre-election does not apply to entities like the SIC or PTI, which did not contest the general election under a conventional party symbol but rather supported independent candidates.
Babar Saleem Swati, the KP Assembly Speaker, challenged the PHC’s directive compelling him to administer the oath to MPAs elected on reserved seats through a review petition. This action followed a directive from a PHC division bench, which had mandated the inclusion of this item in the assembly’s agenda. Swati’s petition, through his lawyer Ali Azeem Afridi, argued that the judgement overlooked factual aspects concerning the assembly session requisitioned for Senate elections, asserting that session convening lies at the discretion of government or opposition request, not the speaker’s unilateral decision.
Additionally, a PHC bench considered a petition from PTI leader Azam Khan Swati regarding Senate election delays in KP, deciding to merge it with the KP Assembly speaker’s review plea and postponing further hearing.
 challenges a Peshawar High Court decision at the Supreme Court, seeking justice over the allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities.){kind=link}