ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan has started the process of allocating reserved seats for women and minorities to other parliamentary parties after rejecting the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council’s demand for the provision of reserved seats.
According to the notification issued by the ECP, three reserved seats for minorities in the National Assembly have been given to the Pakistan Muslim League (N), Pakistan People’s Party, and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F).
Two reserved seats for women in the lower house of parliament from Punjab have been given to the Muslim League-N and the People’s Party. Among the three minority seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one seat each has been given to the Muslim League-N, PPP, and JUI-F.
ECP has also issued a notification for reserved seats for women in the Sindh Assembly. People’s Party’s Smita Afzal Syed and MQM-P’s Fauzia Hameed have been given reserved seats for women. The seat reserved for minorities in the Sindh Assembly has been given to Sadhu Mal alias Surinder Valasai of the People’s Party.
After the allocation of reserved seats, the Muslim League (N) became the largest parliamentary party in the National Assembly with 123 seats, followed by the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council with 82 seats. People’s Party managed to get 73 seats.
According to the constitution, political parties are allocated seats on the basis of the number of members elected to the general seats. For their allotment, the ECP had already received the priority list of candidates from the parties before the February 8 elections.
The situation this year is different from the previous elections as the largest group of members are independents, who do not have reserved seats.
