As the Peshawar High Court heard a plea of the Sunni Ittehad Council seeking allocation of reserved seats, it observed that if the seats were left vacant, then women and minorities would not get their share of representation.

The court asked if the PTI-backed independents had submitted an application before the ECP on February 21 seeking to join the SIC, to which SIC lawyer Qazi Anwar replied in the affirmative, adding that “most of the candidates had won the election as independents”.

“They joined the SIC as per the ECP’s instructions,” Anwar asserted.

The court then asked when the list of candidates for the reserved seats was submitted to the ECP, noting: “If reserved seats are left vacant, then women and minorities would not have representation in the Parliament.”

The SIC lawyer replied that the application had been filed by PTI’s Ali Zafar and sought more time to prepare his arguments. At this, the court noted that neither was a plea filed seeking adjournment of the hearing nor was there any report of it. The court observed that only one larger-bench hearing was scheduled for today, adding that it would be an “injustice to the people”.

Anwar again requested that the court adjourn the hearing till tomorrow. However, the PHC refused to do so: “No, it cannot happen that the case be heard tomorrow.”