Speaker urges ECP to resolve reserved seats issue without delay

ISLAMABAD: Speaker of the National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, in a letter addressed to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday, reiterated that the matter of reserved seats should be resolved without further delay, under the existing provisions of the Constitution and the Elections Act, 2017, as amended by parliament.

Referring to an earlier letter sent to the ECP on September 19, 2024, the speaker expressed concern that despite the passage of approximately three weeks, no decision had been made by the ECP. He emphasized that this delay violated the law of the land and undermined the legislative authority of parliament.

He noted that parliamentary leaders had asked him to send an urgent reminder to ensure that the issue is addressed promptly, as per the legal framework provided by the Constitution and law.

Explaining the reasons for his initial letter, the speaker said that parliamentary leaders in the National Assembly had urged him, through their letters, to ensure the implementation of Elections Act, 2017 (as amended by parliament), for the allocation of reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the National Assembly.

The speaker added that the parliamentary leaders had written to him as the custodian of the house, stating that the matter of allocating reserved seats was pending with the ECP. They had also pointed out that a simple legal question was awaiting the ECP’s decision — whether to allocate the reserved seats as provided in Article 51 of the Constitution, read in conjunction with Sections 67 and 104 of the Elections Act, 2017 (as amended by parliament), or to allocate seats based on the Supreme Court’s earlier decision, which was issued before the parliamentary amendments to the Elections Act, 2017. “In light of the above, the matter of reserved seats must be resolved without any further delay, under the existing provisions of the Constitution and the Elections Act, 2017, as amended by parliament,” the speaker wrote in his letter to the ECP.

The Supreme Court, in its verdict, had declared that the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was eligible to get reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the National and provincial assemblies. The apex court had also recognised the PTI as a parliamentary party in the National Assembly.