ISLAMABAD, Oct 17: The requirement, of at least five per cent of the general seats in the national assembly for a political party to qualify for reserved seats for women and minorities, was withdrawn on Thursday.

An Order issued by the president under its legislative powers, said that clause (g) of Article 5 of Conduct of General Election Order 220, shall be deleted.

The deleted clause required “a political party securing less than five per centum of the total number of general sets in the national assembly shall not be entitled to any seat reserved for women or non-Muslims.”

The law also provided that the total number of general seats won by a party shall include the independent returned candidates who may join such party within three days of the publication of the official gazette of the names of the returned candidates.