ISLAMABAD: The Attorney-General for Pakistan (AGP), Mansoor Awan, has been consulted by the National Assembly Secretariat on the classification of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) as a parliamentary party.
Following the official announcement of the results of the general elections held on February 8, the PTI-backed independent members joined the little-known SIC, making it one of the largest parties in parliament.
The SIC Chairman Sahibzada Muhammad Hamid Raza asked NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on March 14 to designate Zain Hussain Qureshi as the SIC’s parliamentary leader, according to a letter the secretariat sent to the AGP.
The letter made clear that the SIC did not run as a political party in the most recent general elections and as a result did not win any seats in the National Assembly. In the most recent general elections, even its chairman ran as an independent and was chosen to serve as one of its members.
Following the general elections, over 86 independent members—the majority of whom were supported by the PTI—joined the SIC. Nevertheless, this secretariat has not yet received confirmation from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in this regard.
Furthermore, the ECP stated in its order dated February 28 concerning the SIC’s applications for reserved seat allocation in the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, and K-P that the SIC is not qualified to assert a quota for seats reserved for women and non-Muslims because it failed to submit a party [priority] list for reserved seats.
“Considering the aforementioned facts, the Honourable Speaker has asked to obtain the learned AGP’s legal opinion on the matter, as it is a legal question whether the SIC may be regarded as a parliamentary party or not.
The letter stated, “The AGP has been requested to furnish his legal advice on the aforementioned legal question as soon as possible for the speaker’s review.”
Because of alleged irregularities in the party’s intra-party elections on December 2, the ECP removed the PTI’s election symbol on December 22, 2023.
The ECP judgement was subsequently affirmed by the Supreme Court, forcing the party’s candidates to run as independents in the elections scheduled for February 8.
Following an agreement, the party’s winning candidates later joined the SIC.
