Pakistan Election Commission will conduct a public hearing on Imran Khan’s party-aligned SIC’s request for the distribution of reserved seats

According to a media source on Tuesday, Pakistan’s electoral commission will conduct an open hearing on a plea filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council, which is supported by imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan, asking to be given its fair number of reserved seats.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by the 71-year-old Khan, ran candidates as independents since the party was not allowed to participate directly in the elections on February 8 because its famous electoral symbol—the cricket bat—was not distributed.

The winning independent candidates supported by the PTI joined the right-wing Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), an alliance of Islamic political and religious parties in the nation with a majority of Muslims that represents adherents of the Sunni school of Islam, in order to receive the PTI’s share of reserved seats for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies.

According to the Dawn newspaper, the Pakistani Election Commission resolved on Monday to schedule an open hearing on Tuesday to discuss the SIC’s request for the allotment of the reserved seats.

Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja presided over a meeting of the highest electoral body where the decision was made.

The event happened soon after President Dr. Arif Alvi turned down a request on February 29 to call the first meeting of the newly elected National Assembly.

Alvi insisted that all reserved seats be assigned prior to the call of the session during which newly elected members of the National Assembly would take the oath of office, rejecting the report from the acting minister of parliamentary affairs on Monday, according to sources cited by Geo News.

Following Alvi’s denial, the departing Speaker of the National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, a close adviser of PTI founder Khan and a former prominent member of his party, decided to call a session of the lower house of parliament on February 29.

A petition against the planned seat distribution to the SIC, brought by the MQM-P (Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan), will also be heard by the ECP.

In the general election on February 8, the PTI-backed independents secured majority seats in the National Assembly.

But Khan’s prospects of winning back office may be severely limited since the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have reached an agreement on a power-sharing arrangement to create a new coalition government.

The PMLN and PPP’s efforts to establish a coalition government have been rebuffed by Khan’s party, which has warned that the worst kind of political instability would occur if the “mandate thieves” steal its public backing.

Ninety-three National Assembly seats went to independents, the bulk of whom were supported by the PTI party.

The PPP secured 54 seats, placing third, behind the PML-N’s 75 seats.

With 17 seats, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P)