The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has started the process of reallocating reserved seats of women and minorities to other parliamentary parties after rejecting the plea of Sunni Ittehad Council which comprises PTI-backed lawmakers, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Tuesday.

According to notifications issued by the ECP, three reserved seats for minorities in the National Assembly have been allocated to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) each.

The ECP has also issued notifications for reserved seats for women in the Sindh Assembly. Notably, PPP’s Sumeta Afzal Syed and MQM-P’s Fouzia Hameed have been given the reserved seats for women.

The reserved seat for minorities in Sindh Assembly has been given to PPP’s Sadhumal Surendar Valasai.

 Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s three minority seats have been allocated to various parliamentary parties, with PML-N, PPP, and JUI-F each securing one seat each.

It is pertinent that the ECP on Monday, rejected the Sunni Ittehad Council’s petition seeking the allocation of reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies.

In its decision, the electoral body said the SIC is not entitled to claim quota for reserved seats due to having “non-curable legal defects and violation of a mandatory provision of submission of party list for reserved seats which is the requirement of the law”.

“The seats in the National Assembly shall not remain vacant and will be allotted by proportional representation process of political parties based on seats won by political parties,” the order said.