Islamabad: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday ruled against awarding the reserved seats to an ally of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in a blow to jailed former premier Imran Khan’s party.
The case was related to the rejection of a plea by the Election Commission of Pakistan to award the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), an ally of the PTI, its share of the 70 reserved seats in the National Assembly and another 156 in the four provincial assemblies.
The seats reserved for women and minorities are proportionally awarded to the political parties on the basis of their numerical strength in the assemblies.
On July 12 last year, the Supreme Court, by a majority of eight of 13 judges, awarded the reserved seats to the SIC.
The judgment was delivered after the SIC had filed a plea challenging the Peshawar High Court decision upholding the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) move to deny it its share of the reserved seats.
However, the ruling had not been implemented by the National Assembly, while the ECP had raised some objections, and review petitions against the order had been filed by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the ECP.
On Friday, an 11-member constitutional bench began the hearing, but Justice Salahuddin Panhwar recused himself after an objection by the lawyer of the SIC.
However, the bench proceeded to complete the hearing, rejecting a plea by the SIC to postpone the hearing.
Justice Aminuddin Khan, the head of the bench, read the judgment, saying that “the petitions have been allowed” and the original judgment of the Peshawar High Court has been restored, which meant that the SIC would not get any reserved seats. Seven judges ruled in favour of the judgment, whereas three opposed it.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) could not contest last year’s February 8 elections as the ECP rejected its intra-party elections and deprived it of its poll symbol, a cricket bat.
Hence, it was not eligible to claim the seats reserved for women and minorities that are awarded to the winning parties.
As a result, its candidates, who had won independently with the support of the PTI, were asked by the party leadership to join the SIC to claim the reserved seats.
The joining of PTI lawmakers made the SIC prominent, which otherwise was a dormant entity.
The ECP had rejected the SIC plea for reserved seats on the pretext that it had not contested the elections as a party and only got strength when the PTI-backed independently elected candidates joined its ranks.
Its appeal against the ECP decision in the Peshawar High Court was also turned down in March 2024, forcing the party to file a challenge in the Supreme Court, which on July 12 ruled in favour of the SIC and rejected the high court judgment.
However, the situation has returned to square one after today’s judgment, which restored the Peshawar High Court ruling.
Following the Supreme Court ruling of May 6 last year, the ECP on May 14 suspended the victory notifications of 77 candidates, who belonged to other parties and were declared successful on the reserved seats which should have gone to the SIC.
Today’s ruling by the top court decided the fate of those 77 reserved seats, which would be awarded to various parties other than the SIC and PTI.
Though it may not change the current power structure, the changes in the overall number game in the assemblies may impact lawmaking in the country, as the ruling coalition may get a two-thirds majority.
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