Court announces its reserved verdict on a petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) challenging the ECP’s method of allocating reserved seats
PESHAWAR: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-July 8th, 2025) The Peshawar High Court has suspended the 2024 notification issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) regarding the allocation of reserved seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
The court announced its reserved verdict on a petition filed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) challenging the ECP’s method of allocating reserved seats.
In its two-page judgment, the court nullified both ECP notifications related to the allocation of seats for women and minorities. The court directed the ECP to reallocate these seats and to hear all candidates and political parties within ten days before issuing a new decision.
The High Court further ordered that no oath should be taken on reserved seats until the ECP reaches a fresh decision.
The court also instructed the ECP to reallocate the reserved seats after hearing the viewpoints of PML-N, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Awami National Party (ANP), and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTI-P).
Earlier, a two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr. Khurshid Iqbal heard the petition filed by the PML-N challenging the allocation of reserved seats.
Those present in court included ECP’s Special Secretary for Law Muhammad Arshad, ECP counsel Mohsin Kamran, PML-N lawyers Aamir Javed and Barrister Saqib Raza, JUI’s lawyer Naveed Akhtar, and Farooq Afridi.
PML-N’s counsel argued that during the allocation process, the ECP counted only six of the party’s members, despite PML-N having won five general seats in the February 8 elections. He said independent candidate Hissam Inamullah joined PML-N within the legally prescribed three-day window after notification of his win.
The counsel contended that the ECP issued its notification on reserved seats on February 22, before all election results were officially notified. For instance, PK-82 winner Malik Tariq Awan's success was notified on February 22, and he formally joined PML-N on February 23. A letter confirming his party affiliation was sent to the ECP the same day.
The lawyer argued that this brought PML-N’s total seats to seven in the assembly. On March 4, minority seat allocations were notified — one each to JUI-F, PML-N, and PPP, with the fourth seat left vacant to be decided by a draw between PML-N and JUI-F.
However, on the same day, while PML-N was counted for the minority seat (via Tariq Awan), it was not counted similarly for women’s reserved seats, where Tariq Awan was instead treated as an independent.
Justice Arshad Ali questioned whether PML-N now had eight reserved seats. The lawyer clarified that the ECP claimed Tariq Awan joined the party after February 22, while the law allows independent candidates three days post-notification to join a party. Since the notification came on February 22 and he joined on February 23, he was within the deadline.
Despite this, the ECP considered him independent. The lawyer stated that two independents joined PML-N, increasing their total to seven, and the party deserved nine reserved seats — including one minority seat to be decided by a draw.
JUI-F’s counsel Naveed Akhtar argued that his party was not made a party to the petition, despite being directly affected. He appeared on behalf of elected minority member Gujral Singh.
The petitioner’s lawyer stressed they did not seek a delay in Senate elections but requested that if the court refers the matter back to the ECP, a decision should be made within three days.
Justice Arshad Ali inquired how the ECP could proceed with seat allocations when the election process had not yet been completed. The ECP’s legal officer replied that the assembly must convene within 21 days of the election.
The court noted that the ECP set February 22 as the deadline for joining parties and allocated five seats based on that, yet allocated 21 more seats in March — questioning the logic behind this inconsistency.
The ECP representative responded that all seat allocations were based on the party positions as of February 22. Justice Arshad Ali replied that had all seats been allocated on February 22, the matter would have been different.
JUI-F’s counsel argued that the party whose seats were being challenged should have been made a respondent in the case.
ECP’s counsel said that PML-N had submitted a petition on July 1, which had already been decided. The petition by Suresh Kumar in the ECP, he noted, was not the same as the current one; Tariq Awan was also a separate petitioner.
After hearing all parties, the court reserved its verdict — which has now been announced in favor of reallocation.
