Lahore, 10 May 2024, (GNP): The ruling coalition faced a significant setback in Punjab when the speaker of the provincial assembly suspended 27 of its lawmakers from reserved seats on Friday, following the Supreme Court’s verdict earlier this week.
Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan suspended the memberships of 27 lawmakers who held reserved seats for women and minorities in the provincial legislative assembly after reading out the top court’s verdict.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) saw 23 out of the 27 suspended lawmakers belonging to its party, resulting in a reduction of their seats in the House to 203.
Following that, two lawmakers from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) were also suspended, along with one each from the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q).
The speaker suspended memberships on 24 reserved seats for women and the remaining three for minorities.
Among the suspended Members of the Provincial Assembly (MPAs) representing minorities in the Punjab Assembly are Tariq Masih Gul, Waseem Anjum, and Basro Jee.
The suspended women MPAs include Maqsoodan Bibi, Robina Nazeer, Salma Zahid, Kanwal Noman, Zeba Ghafoor, Saeeda Samreen Taj, Sheher Bano, Amna Perveen, Syed Sumera Ahmed, Uzma Butt, Afshan Hussain, Shagufta Faisal, Nasreen Riaz, Sajida Naveed, Farzana Abbas, Maria Talal, Tasheen Fawad, Abida Bashir, Saadia Muzaffar, Faiza Momina, Amira Khan, Samiya Ata, Rahat Afza, and Rukhsar Shafiq.
Also Read: Supreme Court suspends allocation of SIC’s reserved seats
SC’s verdict on reserved seats
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court suspended the Peshawar High Court’s verdict regarding the reserved seat while accepting the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) plea against the high court’s ruling.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had rejected the party’s plea, thus denying it reserved seats.
A three-member bench, led by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and including Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah, announced the verdict.
The Supreme Court stated that members who have taken oath on reserved seats are barred from casting their votes in legislation. Additionally, the court mentioned that it would hear the case on a daily basis starting from June 3rd.
Additionally, the court pointed out that the issue at hand pertains specifically to the extra reserved seats allocated to political parties at a later stage.
Before the annulment, a five-member bench of the Peshawar High Court, headed by Chief Justice Ibrahim Khan and including Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, Justice Ijaz Anwar, Justice Arshad Ali, and Justice Shakeel Ahmad, had dismissed the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) petition against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision, which denied the party reserved seats in March.
In response, the SIC had appealed to the Supreme Court last month, urging the court to allocate the party 67 women and 11 minority seats in the national and provincial assemblies and overturn the Peshawar High Court’s ruling.
