The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) decided the reserved seat case of the Sunni Itihad Council and has kept the verdict reserved.
Nothing could be said right now when the decision will be announced, said the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faez Isa adding “We will discuss and consult with one another when to announce this decision.”
The court’s staff was reported saying, the short verdict will not be announced today. The top court reserved it after all party’s councils concluded their arguments.
The SIC’s lawyer Faisal Siddiqui in his arguments said how a party winning 18 general seats could be given 30 reserved seats. those are said as independent candidates, they are not at all, the lawyer argued. The CJP noted that according to this logic, the SIC should have zero seats because it didn’t win any seats in the Feb 8 election. The CJP remarked, “You are arguing the PTI’s case and speaking against yourself.” Faisal said these seats will be given to the SIC which is present in the parliament. The CJP observed, “We admit your arguments, and thus seats will go to the PTI.” “If we admit your arguments then it is not your case and soon you will get to know it,” the Chief Justice remarked. Meanwhile, Justice Athar Minallah remarked that no one was speaking on the rights of the voters who elected the political parties.
He stated there is a need to make the elections fair, while in 2028 there were serious questions about the elections too. After completion of the arguments, the Court reserved the verdict that will be announced later. A full court bench comprising Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Munib Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha Malik, Athar Minallah, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Shahid Waheed, Irfan Saadat Khan, and Naeem Akhtar Afghan was hearing this case. The CJP headed this bench.
The SIC was earlier joined by the PTI-backed independent candidates after they won the general election in February as their party was deprived of its electoral symbol ‘bat’. In a 4-1 verdict in March, the ECP) ruled the SIC was not entitled to claim reserved seats for having significant legal implications and violation of an essential provision of submission of party list for reserved seats. The Commission distributed the seats among other parliamentary parties. The PML-N and the PPP were major beneficiaries with 16 and five additional seats while the JUIF was given four. The PTI termed this distribution as unconstitutional. The Peshawar High Court (PHC) dismissed SIC’s plea challenging the ECP’s decision.
The SIC filed a petition before the SC seeking to set aside the PHC’s judgment. The apex court on May 6 suspended the PHC’s judgment and the ECP decision to deprive the SIC of reserved seats for women and minorities. The SC earlier placed the present petitions before the three-judge committee that determined the formation of the bench. The reconstitution of a larger bench was made when Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan highlighted that under Section 4 of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023, a larger bench should hear this case since it was to interpret constitutional provisions. The ECP later suspended the notification of 77 members of the national and provincial assemblies elected on those seats. Those suspended include 44 from PMLN, 15 from PPP, 13 from JUI-F and one each from PML-Q, IPP, PTI-P, MQM-P, and ANP. This notification deprived the ruling coalition of a two-thirds majority in the lower house. The ECP’s decision reduced the strength of coalition partners in the government to 209 from 228, in the House of 336. The two-thirds majority comes to 224. The PMLN’s was reduced from 121 to 107 and the PPP to 67 from 72. Those suspended include 22 members of the NA; they include 14 from PML-N, five from the PPP, and three from JUIF.
Now the verdict will decide the future of both the ruling and the opposition. With a large majority, the government could bring amendments to the constitution, and if they go to the opposition, the government’s dreams could dash to the ground. It is important to note that earlier the JUIF’s lawyer in the SC during the proceedings of this case stated that the JUIF has no objections to the ECP’s earlier notification. However, the PTI leaders today said the party launched more than 800 candidates as it was the party of the public. They said this case was of public importance and hopefully the court would soon announce its verdict.
(By Rana Kashif)
