ECP notifies 'unknown' woman MNA on JUI-F’s reserved seat

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has sought suspension of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) notification of a woman member on a National Assembly reserved seat, saying that the notified legislator was an ‘unknown’ to the party.

The electoral authority issued the notification, bearing number F6 of 2024, for the success of Sadaf Ehsan, who JUI-F chief says was not a party member, on the NA reserved seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Reacting to this, Fazl submitted a request seeking the suspension of the notification and investigation into the matter.

“Sadaf Sultan is neither our party (JUI-F) member nor named in our list. Notification for Sadaf Ehsan should be suspended and Ms Hina Bibi should be notified [on the reserved seat],” Fazl’s request stated.

He also raised a question of whether the notification for Sadaf was issued by mistake or there was a conspiracy behind the matter.

The ECP last week allocated reserved seats in the NA and all four provincial assemblies.

It may be noted that the reserved seats were distributed among other parties as the electoral watchdog ruled against allocating them to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).

According to an ECP notification, eight women reserved seats in NA from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are given to PML-N’s Sobia Shahid, Ghazala Anjum, Shela Bano and Shaheen while PPP’s Asma Alamgir and Naeema Kanwal and Naeema Kishwar and Sadaf Ehsan of JUI-F.