ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan will resume hearing the case about the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) reserved seats today (Thursday).
A 13-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and comprising justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Munib Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Amin ud Din Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha Malik, Athar Minallah, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Shahid Waheed, Irfan Saadat Khan, and Naeem Akhtar Afghan will resume hearing of the case.
During the previous hearing, the CJP observed that the Constitution was sacred and it was necessary to follow it.
If the party concerned had not the list of its candidates for reserved seats of women or minorities (with the Election Commission) then there would be effects, he remarked.
Addressing the SIC’s lawyer, the chief justice said that he would not be asked questions if he had submitted documents in support of his arguments.
Justice Munib Akhtar questioned the lawyer whether (SIC chief) Hamid Raza did not submit his nomination papers on behalf of the SIC. Faisal Siddiqui Advocate replied that Hamid Raza was given the symbol of ‘tower’ while that of the SIC was ‘horse’.
Justice Athar Minallah said that it would be a different case if Hamid Raza were proven to be a candidate for the SIC and that it was an admitted fact that all the PTI candidates were declared independent.
Justice Mandokhail observed that if anyone got a party’s ticket then it could not be changed.
The chief justice remarked that neither the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) nor any of its elected representatives were respondents in the case. As the case before the court was that of the SIC for specific seats, then why the case that was not before them was being discussed, he asked.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah asked how the ECP could declare all the candidates as independent as it had no such authority.
Justice Athar Minallah said that the most important thing was the right to vote. As the elections should be clear and transparent, questions had been raised on their procedure, he added.
Justice Ayesha Malik remarked that the reserved seats could be given only on the principle of proportional representation.
Counsel for the Members of the National Assembly on reserved seats, Makhdoom Ali Khan said that the SIC did not provide the list for reserved seats. There had never been a case where a party had not contested elections and later demanded specific seats.
He said that the election schedule was issued under the Election Act and nomination papers must be submitted before the date. The date for the submission of the list of reserved seats was given, he said, adding that the ECP would confirm that the SIC did not submit the list.
He said the Peshawar High Court upheld the decision of ECP regarding the reserved seats.
On the occasion, the court stopped lawyer Salman Akram Raja from submission of more documents.
ECP’s lawyer Sikander Bashir argued that a political party based on 100 percent independent candidates was not a political party under the Election Act. He said that if a political party did not win a single seat and had 200 independent candidates, it would get zero reserved seats.