Peshawar : March 6, 2024: A division bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC ) comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Shakeel Ahmad took up a petition filed by PTI-SIC alliance challenging the commission’s orders and barred the beneficiaries from taking oath as members of the lower house of the parliament till Thursday (today).
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had denied to allot reserves and minority seats to PTI as its members contested the February 8 elections as independents and later distributed these seats among the ruling alliance. The Sunni Ittehad Counsel (SIC) had challenged ECP ‘s decision in PHC. The PHC division bench heard the case on Wednesday and barred the members allowed seats of PTI from taking oath till Thursday. The court also issued notices to ECP for Thursday (Today). Meanwhile , the court formed a larger bench of five judges to hear the case on Thursday.
PHC ‘s decision in the case can be of extra ordinary significance . PTI-SIC has also challenged ECP’s decision of not allotting women and minority seats to its members in the Lahore High Court (LHC).
Pakistan Tehreek- e Insaf (PTI) founding chief , Imran Khan , has vehemently criticised ECP ‘s decision of denying his party women and minority seats in his message given from Adiala jail and termed it as a negation of democracy. PHC’s division bench had raised many questions on the issue in hand during hearing on Wednesday and sought opinion from the legal experts on these . The bench questioned if a high court has jurisdiction of hearing the petition challenging allotment of women and minority seats to the opponents ?.