ISLAMABAD: A returning officer (RO) was suspended by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday in response to a dispute surrounding the allotment of a reserved seat to a “unknown woman.”

The story started when Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) asserted that the woman who was identified as “unknown” had been given a reserved seat in the National Assembly on its ticket.

JUI-F Emir Maulana Fazlur Rehman filed a request for the suspension of the “unknown woman”‘s notification and a request for a probe into the situation one day earlier.

“Sadaf Sultan is neither on our list, nor is he a member of our party, the JUI-F. In the request, the head of JUI-F said, “Notification for Sadaf Ehsan should be suspended and Ms. Hina Bibi should be notified [on the reserved seat]”.

The notification (number F6 of 2024) for the election of the unidentified woman to the NA reserved seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was released by the electoral administration.

The electoral board said in a statement on Tuesday that it has ordered an investigation into the situation and that an open hearing would be held on March 26 to address it.

According to the ECP, Sadaf Yasmin was listed on a list that the JUI-F presented in order to allot special seats for women.

But the woman who filed her nomination papers named herself as Sadaf Ehsan, and she was from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat district.

The electoral commission added that the JUI-F had declared in its application that Sadaf Yasmin is their candidate and that he has not yet turned in nomination papers to the ECP.

It added that notices to all parties to settle this dispute have also been sent.

All reserved seats in the NA and all four provincial assemblies were distributed by the ECP last week.