PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday lifted the stay order on the swearing-in of lawmakers nominated for reserved seats for women and minorities in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly. The court also directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to decide the distribution of these seats within 10 days.
A two-member bench, comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr. Khurshid Iqbal, heard the petitions filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTI-P) and the Awami National Party (ANP) challenging the ECP’s seat allocation. Both parties had argued that the ECP had allocated them one reserved seat each, despite their higher representation in the house.
During the hearing, PTI-P’s lawyer Sultan Muhammad Khan withdrew his petition, and the court vacated the stay order on the swearing-in. The bench then directed the ECP to consider ANP’s petition and make a decision on the seat distribution within the given timeframe.
The ECP’s Special Secretary Muhammad Arshad clarified that PTI-P’s request had been rejected by the ECP, and the case was pending with the Islamabad High Court. On the other hand, ANP’s case was different, as one of its candidates had won in the by-elections, which did not affect the reserved seats allocation.
The court’s decision to lift the stay order allows the process to proceed, while the ECP is tasked with resolving the matter of seat distribution for the ANP.
