PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Friday issued notices to the federal government and Election Commission of Pakistan, seeking their response to the petition of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur for declaring the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-backed independent MPAs the same party’s lawmakers and allocate reserved seats afresh on its basis.

A bench consisting of Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Farah Jamshed fixed July 21 for next hearing into Mr Gandapur’s plea for multiple reliefs.

The petitioner requested the court to declare unconstitutional Rule 94 of the Election Rules, which declared 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 also said the court should strike down an impugned letter issued by the ECP to him on July 14 for summoning of the KP Assembly session for administering oaths to candidates of other political parties notified on reserved seats.

Centre, ECP put on notice over Gandapur’s plea about independent MPAs

The petitioner prayed the court to declare unlawful the ECP’s notification issued on July 4, 2025, to allocate reserved seats in the KP Assembly to political parties having less electoral strength than the PTI’s.

He also 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.

Advocate Basheer Wazir appeared for the petitioner , whereas Advocate General Shah Faisal Uthmankhel also turned up.

Mr Wazir sought interim relief requesting that the candidates notified against reserved seats through the impugned notification of Jul 4, 2025, by the ECP may be restrained from taking oath.

The bench observed that it would be appropriate to seek response of the respondents including the ECP and other political parties on the matter.

Mr Wazir contended 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 a declaration of joining Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).

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

The lawyer 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 said 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 the province.

Mr Wazir contended that the explanation included in Rule 94 of the Election Rules, 2017, was in conflict with the Election Act and had introduced a substantive disqualification that was neither contemplated nor sanctioned by the said Act.

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

The counsel added that even if the PTI candidates contested elections as independents, their pre-poll affiliation entitled them to be treated as a political party for the purpose of the reserved seats’ allocation.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2025