Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan on Wednesday submitted written arguments to the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the case of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) regarding reserved seats.
The AGP requested the top court to dismiss the SIC’s appeal and uphold the verdict of Peshawar High Court (PHC) in the matter.
He said,”A political party that participates in elections and wins at least one seat can get reserved seats. According to the law, a list has to be provided for certain seats to the ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan).”
The SIC neither participated in the elections nor submitted the list for the specific seats, “which are only reserved for minorities and women”, he added.
The AGP said,”Independent candidates can join the political parties that have representation in the Parliament. ” He argued that the SIC was not a parliamentary party at the time of the allocation of reserved seats, and its demand for reserved seats was unconstitutional. He said that the PPP (Pakistan Peoples Party), PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) and others had submitted their lists before the elections, and their voters were aware about the reserved seats before elections.
