Naveed Ahmad Khan
ISLAMABAD: In a major legal victory for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan overturned the denial of reserved seats to the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah announced the 8-5 majority verdict on a petition filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), an ally of the PTI.
Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Shahid Waheed, Muneeb Akhtar, Muhammad Ali Mazhar Ayesha Malik, Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi and Irfan Saadat Khan ruled in favour of the PTI.
The top court nullified the Peshawar High Court’s order wherein it had upheld the ECP’s decision denying the reserved seats to the SIC.
In its order, the apex court said that the Election Commission of Pakistan ECP’s decision of allocating reserved seats to the ruling coalition was unconstitutional.
The bench accepted SIC’s petition and ruled that the party is eligible for the allocation of reserved seats. The apex court accepted PTI as political party and asked Imran Khan-led party to submit reserved seats candidates list to ECP within 15 days.
“Candidates of the PTI cannot be declared independent candidates, nor representatives of any other party,” the verdict said adding that the ECP had incorrectly declared members of PTI as independents.
The court had reserved its verdict on Tuesday after closing the hearing on a set of appeals moved by the SIC.
The full bench-led by CJP ISA, also comprises Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
The reserved seats issue came to limelight after over 80 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed independent candidates emerged victorious in the February 8 elections.
The SIC then approached the ECP on February 21 seeking allocation of reserved seats.
However, the PTI suffered a setback after the electoral body, citing the party’s failure to submit its list of candidates, denied allocating the reserved seats to the SIC via its 4-1 majority verdict on March 4.
The election commission distributed the reserved seats for women and minorities among other political parties.
The PTI-backed SIC had approached the court after the ECP refused to allocate the reserved seats due to the party’s failure to submit its list of candidates before the deadline. The Peshawar High Court (PHC) upheld the ECP’s decision, leading the SIC to appeal to the Supreme Court.
In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly – according to a notification, the ECP allocated one reserved seat each to Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
In Sindh Assembly – allocated reserved seat for women to Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and PPP. PPP’s Samita Afzal and MQM-P’s Fouzia Hameed elected on reserved seats.
Furthermore, PPP’s Sadhu Mal alias Surinder Valasai secured minority seat in Sindh Assembly.
The ECP allocated three reserved seats for minorities to PML-N, PPP and JUI-F – which were claimed by Sunni Ittehad Council. PML-N’s Neelam Meghwar, PPP’s Ramesh Kumar and JUI-F’s James Iqbal were elected on the minority seats.
Subsequently, the PHC ruling allowed the ruling coalition, comprising the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and other allies, to gain a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. This decision increased the PML-N’s seats to 123 and the PPP’s to 73, while the SIC held 82 seats.