ISLAMABAD: A woman politician of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) reclaimed seat of National Assembly as she filed a petition before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decision de-notifying her.

Shandana Gulzar has been ousted to contest for seat of the National Assembly reserved for women on Oct 4.

She said the ECP’s order “is clearly violative of the rights of the petitioner as guaranteed under the Constitution.”

Giving a background of her case, she stated in the petition that “the PTI, consequent upon the result of the General Elections 2018, attained seven seats as per formula of allocation of seats for women in National Assembly from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. To fill up all the seven seats for women, PTI submitted a priority list.”

The petition stated that the priority list contained eight names and her name appeared at serial No 4.

It said that on April 11, 2022, she along with 123 other MNAs tendered resignation.

The speaker NA accepted the resignation of the petitioner and 10 others and ECP de-notified her from the assembly’s seat.

According to the petition, ECP has technically knocked out her from the race by misinterpreting the relevant provisions of law and Elections Act, 2017.

She requested the court to set aside ECP’s order of Oct 4.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2022