PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on the petition of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) has stopped members elected on reserved seats of national and provincial assemblies from taking their oaths.

Following the Election Commission of Pakistan’s announcement on the allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities, which were contested by the SIC backed by PTI, to other political parties, the high court intervened.

This decision came after the ECP rejected the SIC’s plea for reserved seats post its merger with PTI.

In response, the SIC sought a restraining order from the high court regarding the reserved seats.

The court granted the restraining order, preventing elected members from taking their oaths, and issued notices to the election commission and other involved parties.

Additionally, the Speaker has been instructed not to administer oaths to the reserved seat members until Thursday.

A division bench of the high court, consisting of Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Shakeel Ahmed, presided over the case.

Following the allocation of reserved seats, PML-N emerges as the largest parliamentary party in the National Assembly with 123 seats, followed by SIC backed by PTI with 82 seats, and PPP led by Bilawal Bhutto securing 73 seats.

The ECP has allocated three reserved seats for minorities in the National Assembly to PML-N, PPP, and JUI-F, respectively. Similarly, two reserved seats for women in Punjab’s lower house of Parliament have been allotted to PML-N and PPP.

In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, each of the three minority seats has been allocated to PML-N, PPP, and JUI-F.

Notifications for reserved seats for women in the Sindh Assembly have also been issued, with Sumeta Afzal Syed from PPP and Fouzia Hameed from MQM-P securing the seats, while PPP’s Sadhu Mal alias Surinder Valasai has been given the reserved minority seat in the Sindh Assembly.