The Sindh High Court on Friday barred the authorities from counting votes of the Members of Parliament (MPs) elected on disputed reserved seats in the presidential election – slated for March 9.

The SHC conducted a hearing on the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) plea against the allocation of three reserved seats of the Sindh Assembly to the other parties.

The court, in short order, instructed to not count the three votes in the presidential election as it sought a response from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on March 28.

The Peshawar High Court has already ordered that MPs nominated to reserved seats should not take oath in the National and KP assembly till March 13.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s candidates were forced to contest the election as independents after the ECP denied them the bat symbol.

After winning the elections, they chose to join the SIC in order to get reserved seats from the ECP. However, the ECP denied them the seats on the ground that they had not applied for the reserved seats before the elections.

The Commission then proceeded to allot the remaining reserved seats to other parties in the parliament. This could have major ramifications, particularly in the National Assembly where the ruling alliance could gain two-thirds majority.

This story is being updated.