Uganda, Feb. 6 -- Human rights defenders have asked the Constitutional Court to order city women representatives to vacate their seats in parliament immediately, saying their legislative role is non-existent and offends the Ugandan law.

The rights defenders allege that the occupation of parliament by city women lawmakers under the category of special interest group representation is unconstitutional.

In the petition filed before the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, a lawyer and two civil society bodies claim that the creation of 20 more constituencies out of the cities by parliament and the electoral commission in 2020, more than 12 months after the March 23, 2016 publication of the national population census, is inconsistent with const...