• Slams commission for restoring reserved seat to Sadaf Ihsan; says party ‘forced to accept stranger’
• ECP questions mistaken identity claim, faults JUI-F’s own priority list
ISLAMABAD: After a suspension of nearly two years amid a “mistaken identity” controversy, Sadaf Ihsan was reinstated on Wednesday as a member of the National Assembly on a reserved seat for women from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, drawing condemnation from Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), which termed the decision “unjust” and “biased”.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued a notification restoring its March 4, 2024, declaration of Ms Ihsan as the returned candidate, shortly after a full bench rejected petitions filed by JUI-F and Hina Bibi for being “devoid of merits and facts”.
The controversy surfaced after the ECP’s March 4, 2024, notification, when the JUI-F disowned Ms Ihsan and claimed it had not fielded her as a candidate, alleging impersonation and insisting its priority list carried the name “Sadaf Yasmeen” rather than “Sadaf Ihsan”.
The ECP suspended Ms Ihsan’s victory notification on March 11, 2024. The matter was later remanded to the commission by the Federal Constitutional Court on Dec 24, 2025, with directions to decide it afresh within a month.
In its order, the ECP noted that counsel for the JUI-F had argued that a political party could not object to an alleged wrong entry in nomination papers, or to the acceptance or rejection of a candidate’s nomination papers, as no remedy was provided under the law.
The commission rejected the contention, saying the law allowed a voter of the constituency, an objector or an appellate tribunal, upon receiving information from any source, to raise objections or file an appeal regarding acceptance or rejection of nomination papers.
The ECP observed that the party could have approached the commission earlier but did so after a “considerable delay”, and said it was the duty of political parties to prepare reserved-seat priority lists with due diligence on the prescribed Form-66 under the Election Rules, 2017.
It said the returning officer had given the JUI-F an opportunity to submit a properly drafted list, but the party, in its second submission, corrected only three names at serial numbers 1 to 3 and again left the name of “Sadaf Yasmeen” incomplete.
The order also noted that Hina Bibi, who was on the priority list and had pursued her case regarding acceptance of nomination papers up to the Supreme Court, did not raise an objection to the acceptance of Ms Ihsan’s nomination papers.
The commission also questioned the existence of “Sadaf Yasmeen”, observing that she did not appear before any forum, including an inquiry committee and the Supreme Court, despite notices. It said her counsel appeared before the commission on the last date of hearing without notice and submitted a power of attorney.
The ECP also noted that two different copies of Ms Yasmeen’s identity card had been submitted, showing different temporary and permanent addresses and different issuance dates.
It observed that Ms Yasmeen was not a voter of the constituency at the time the party submitted its list as she was a resident of Karachi’s East district and that her identity card details were changed on Feb 18, 2025, about a year after the 2024 general elections.
Rejecting the JUI-F’s claim that Ms Ihsan was an “alien” to the party, ECP said Ms Ihsan had been a JUI-F member since 2018 and that original documents regarding her membership were provided by an authorised representative of the party.
According to the order, Ms Ihsan appeared in the party’s 2018-19 membership list at serial number 4 with membership number 506,885 and held a membership card. The commission said membership cards of 29 other members of her family were also produced, including her mother, father, brother, sister-in-law and brother-in-law.
‘Unjust, biased’ decision
Meanwhile, JUI-F has criticised the ECP decision to reinstate Sadaf Ihsan as an MPA on a reserved seat allocated to the party. In a statement, JUI-F spokesperson Aslam Ghauri said the decision was regrettable. “We are being forced to accept a stranger in our parliamentary party,” he said, calling the decision unjust, biased and “contrary to the electoral system in the country”.
The spokesperson alleged that the ECP had ignored an order of the Peshawar High Court and referred the matter to a tribunal, which he said was tantamount to making “a mockery of the Constitution and law”. He claimed the party’s reserved seat had been awarded to “a stranger” instead of a party candidate, describing it as a “daylight robbery” of the party’s mandate.
The party also faces an internal disciplinary matter in the Senate after it terminated the basic membership of Senator Ahmed Khan for supporting a government-sponsored bill against party lines.
Kalbe Ali also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2026
