The Election Commission of Pakistan decided on Monday that the matter of Sunni Ittehad Council’s reserved seats will be settled through open hearings.

A five-member bench of the ECP will take up the matter of reserved seats on Tuesday.

The bench will be led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja and will include all four ECP members.

The ECP has still not notified the returned candidates for 23 reserved seats in the National Assembly.

Paksitan Tehreek-e-Insaf had fielded its candidates as independents in the general election after the bat symbol had been denied to the party.

The group emerged as the largest in the National Assembly and decided to merge with the Sunni Ittehad Council to be recognised as a party.

However, the SIC has still not been issued reserved seats in the assembly. Meanwhile, the government is already gearing up to call the session for members to be sworn in.