The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has no authority to keep any political party out of the electoral process. The commission through the wrong interpretation of the Supreme Court’s decision kept one major political party out of the elections. Justice Athar Minallah noted this today when a full court was hearing the case of the reserved seats. Justice Minallah also questioned what implications such an interpretation could have. He observed the ECP separated the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from the elections.
The ECP argued the Sunni Ittihad Council (SIC) doesn’t have a manifesto that recognizes any non-Muslim member. Justice Minallah said noting that despite the same, the JUI-F was given reserved seats. Justice Ayesha Malik observed when the manifesto of other parties is not examined then why of the SIC taken into account? Does the ECP view the manifestoes even of other parties before allotting them reserved seats, she inquired this question. Justice Munib Akhtar remarked that the ECP itself has created this situation and said upon declaring the candidates as independent, they after winning preferred to join back their party.
Meanwhile, today the government informed the Court that the SIC was not entitled to the reserved seats. It requested an instant dismissal of this petition. The SIC did not deserve those seats of non-Muslim and women lawmakers as it consisted entirely of independent candidates, stated the government. The SIC did not field a single candidate in the general election or furnish a list required under Section 104 of the Elections Act 2017, it argued. The only constitutionally permissible solution was to allocate the additional seats to other eligible political parties in proportion to their secured general seats.
According to the request, independent candidates could only join a party, which has a parliamentary party in the house required under Article 63A (2). The PTI through Barrister Gohar, said the grant of a unequal number of seats to other political parties would expand the rejection of the will of the people. The danger of far-reaching amendments to the constitutional structure of the state through an illusory parliament must be met by upholding the fundamental principles of democracy and true parliamentary representation.
The application revealed the PTI backed 86 returned candidates in the National Assembly, 107 in the Punjab Assembly, 91 in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly, and nine in the Sindh Assembly. They were entitled to be counted for election to the reserved seats based on proportional representation. The PTI filed lists of candidates for the seats reserved for women and non-Muslims in the National and provincial assemblies on or before the last date for the filing of such lists by ECP before the Feb 8 general elections.
Many of the candidates on these lists also filed their nomination papers declaring their affiliation to the PTI, the application said, adding Article 51(6)(d) and (e) of the Constitution did not impose an absolute requirement that independent returned candidates must join a political party with at least one general seat in a house for such returned candidates to be counted for the election for the reserved seats. The Constitution or Section 104 of the Elections Act 2017 does not require that lists for reserved seats be necessarily filed before the date of the general election, the PTI’s request said adding the SIC was denied of those seats despite being eligible. The SIC was ready to provide a list of candidates for the allocations but was not allowed to submit it. It blamed the ECP for “unconstitutionally” allocating reserved seats belonging to the PTI-SIC alliance to other political parties which also went against the aspirations of the nationals.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) said approval of the SIC’s appeal “will weaken the political parties who participate in the electoral process” He said the approval of the SIC’s appeal would be an “antithesis to the democracy” and “will weaken the political parties who participate in the electoral process.”
AGP – Mansoor Usman Awan – submitted the government’s written response stating “Independently elected candidates are counted towards reserved seats for women and non-Muslims only when they join political parties within 3 days of publication of names of the returned candidates in the official Gazette under Articles 51(6)(d) and (e), as well as 106(3)(c).” The SIC neither contested the general elections nor filed any list of candidates for reserved seats for women and non-Muslims, under Section 104 of the Election Act, 2017, he said.
It is important to note that the reserved seats issue began after the PTI-backed independent candidates appeared winning in the February 8 elections and later joined the SIC in a bid to claim the reserved seats for minorities and women. The party then approached the PHC which upheld the electoral body’s decision, Subsequently, the SIC moved the SC seeking to set aside the PHC verdict and the allocation of 67 women and 11 minority seats in the assemblies.
A 13-member full court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, was hearing this case. It comprised Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan. The Court has adjourned the proceedings till July 1, 2024. (By Rana Kashif)
