The Peshawar High Court has suspended the notification issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in 2024 regarding the allocation of reserved seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
This decision was announced on a petition filed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) challenging the distribution of reserved seats.
According to the two-page written order issued by the court, both ECP notifications related to women and minority reserved seats have been declared null and void.
The court stated that the Election Commission should carry out a fresh allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities and must hear all candidates and political parties before doing so.
The court has given the Election Commission ten days to complete this process. It has also directed that no oath should be administered for the reserved seats until the ECP makes a new decision.
The Peshawar High Court made it clear that the Election Commission must listen to PML-N, PPP, JUI-F, ANP, and PTI Parliamentarians before reallocating the seats.
Earlier, a two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court, comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr. Khurshid Iqbal, had reserved the verdict after hearing the PML-N’s petition against the distribution of reserved seats.
