ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has postponed a decision on allotment of reserved seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) in the recently concluded elections. The matter regarding the allocation of reserved seats in the Sunni Council remains unresolved as the Election Commission has not made a decision today.
According to sources, the case will be heard by the full bench of the ECP tomorrow after which the final decision will be announced. The nature of the dispute over the allocation of headquarters for SIC remains unclear at this time. Earlier, the Sunni Ittehad Council had formally approached the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for reserved seats in both the national and provincial assemblies.
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In a detailed written communication by Sahibzada Hamid Raza, chairman of the Sunni Ittehad Council, the Commission was asked to allocate the reserved seats based on the affiliation of independent candidates. The letter outlines that a significant number of independent candidates have joined the Sunni Ittehad Council. Specifically, 87 independent candidates from the National Assembly, 107 from the Punjab Assembly, 90 from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and 9 from the Sindh Assembly joined the ranks of the council.
By highlighting these numbers, the letter emphasizes the need for proportional representation in the national and provincial assemblies based on the success of these independent candidates who joined the Sunni Ittehad council. The election watchdog’s Research and Implementation (R&I) branch received the documentation from the Sunni Ittehad Council and assigned a journal number to the application, marking the formal start of the process.
