PHC halts oath-taking on reserved seats in KP Assembly

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday barred the oath-taking of women and minority members on reserved seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and sought replies from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the speaker of the assembly.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal issued the order during the hearing of a petition filed by Mahmood Khan, Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTIP).

During the proceedings, the petitioner’s counsel, Sultan Mohammad Khan, informed the court that his client’s party, PTIP, secured two general seats in the last provincial elections, with Arbab Waseem and Iqbal Wazir winning as independent candidates and later joining the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).

Sultan argued that the ECP, citing PTI’s absence from the assembly, distributed all reserved seats among the other parliamentary parties. PTIP was allotted only one reserved seat despite being entitled to at least three women’s seats and one minority seat, based on proportional representation.

He challenged the ECP’s March 4 notification, claiming it was unjust and did not reflect the accurate share of his party. Sultan added that some parties were granted a reserved seat despite having only one general seat, further strengthening their case for additional representation.

Justice Arshad Ali questioned what the court could do at this stage and advised the petitioner to approach the ECP. However, the counsel argued that once the assembly session began and members were sworn in, the petition would become ineffective, causing legal complications.

He requested the court to suspend the oath-taking process until the petition was decided, citing a Supreme Court decision that upheld a previous PHC ruling in favour of PTIP. The bench accepted the request and temporarily barred the speaker from administering the oath on the reserved seats, while also issuing notices to the ECP for a detailed response. Separately, the Awami National Party (ANP) also approached the ECP through a petition filed by Advocate Babar Yousafzai. He stated that although ANP was initially allotted one reserved seat, it now held two general seats after Nisar Baz’s by-election victory. Therefore, ANP should also be allotted additional reserved seats according to its updated strength in the assembly.