PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister on Thursday moved Peshawar High Court for declaring Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)-backed independent MPAs as that of the party and also to allocate reserved seats afresh on its basis.

Mr Gandapur filed a petition with multiple prayers from the high court requesting to declare as unconstitutional Rule 94 of the Election Rules, which provided that a political party which didn’t have a party symbol shall not be treated as a political party for the purpose of allocation of reserved seats.

He requested the court to declare as illegal an impugned letter issued to him by the ECP on July 14 for summoning of the KP Assembly session for administering oath to candidates of other political parties notified on reserved seats.

The petitioner prayed the court to strike down the notification issued on July 4, 2025, by Election Commission of Pakistan whereby reserved seats in the KP Assembly had been allocated to political parties having a lesser electoral mandate than the PTI.

Also challenges ECP letter for convening assembly session

He further sought directives for the ECP to allocate reserved seats to PTI strictly in accordance with the principle of proportional representation, as contemplated under the Constitution and Elections Act, 2017.

The petition is filed through a panel of lawyers including Qazi Mohammad Anwar, Alam Khan Adenzai and Basheer Wazir.

The petitioner claimed that the ECP had misinterpreted a Supreme Court judgment and had declared PTI candidates as independent. He stated that the party had secured 93 provincial assembly seats in the general elections, but as the ECP refused to acknowledge PTI as a political party, the said members were forced to submit declaration of joining Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).

He stated that the ECP had not yet issued any notification announcing PTI candidates as members of the SIC.

He said it was a matter of record that the petitioner and majority of the elected members submitted their nomination papers declaring themselves as PTI candidates and openly contested the election under the PTI banner, notwithstanding the denial of the party symbol.

He stated that the ECP failed to treat them as PTI representatives and instead proceeded to allocate reserved seats to other political parties with far fewer general seats than PTI, thereby violating the principle of proportional representation and defying the electoral mandate of the people of KP.

The petitioner contended that denial of reserved seats to PTI would create an entirely unrepresented provincial assembly that didn’t reflect the will of the people.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2025