A five-member bench larger bench of the Peshawar High Court has extended the stay order against members of parliament elected to reserved seats till March 13.

A five-member bench led by Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim will heard ton Thursday.

The bench also includes Justice Aijaz Anwar, Justice SM Atiq Shah, Justice Shakeel Ahmad and Justice Syed Arshad Ali.

The additional attorney general asked for the case to be adjourned as the attorney general could not appear in the case.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s lawyer, Qazi Anwar, argued that the issue was centered around the presidential election which is set to take place on March 9.

Lawyer Babar Awan told the court that the party which had won 93 seats in the provincial assembly had not been given any reserved seats while a party which had won one seat was given two reserved seats.

The court then extended the stay order till march 13.

PTI’s Barrister Ali Zafar said that the decision would be applicable to both the National Assembly and the KP assembly. However, he added that the party would approach the Lahore High Court for reserved seats in the Punjab Assembly.

The development comes a day after the Peshawar High Court stopped reserved seat members from taking oath in the legislature.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Shakeel Ahmad had stopped the MPs from taking oath. They had also sought a reply from the Election Commission of Pakistan over the issue and had referred the matter to the chief justice so it could fixed infront of a larger bench.

The case was filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council against an ECP decision to deprive it of reserved seats in the National and provincial assemblies.

The ECP had maintained that the SIC had not contested the elections as a party and had not submitted lists for reserved seats either.

This story is being updated.