Supreme Court Reviews ECP’s Decision on Reserved Seat
A 13-member full bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa is hearing the case, which, according to some key bench members involves the interpretation of the Constitution.
The ECP’s counsel, Sikander Bashir Mohmand, will resume his arguments supporting the ECP’s decision. The counsels for the SIC have already presented their arguments and requested the bench to go for a creative interpretation of the Constitutional provision about reserved seats.
The ECP on December 22, 2023, stripped the PTI of its election symbol given irregularities in its intra-party polls. The Supreme Court on January 13 upheld the ECP order forcing the PTI candidates to contest the February 8 general elections as independents.
These independent returned candidates joined the SIC after the announcement of official election results. The SIC later sought reserved seats in the parliament and provincial assemblies in proportion to its general seats.
However, the ECP on March 1 refused to allot these reserved seats to the SIC and allocated additional reserved seats to other political parties. The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on March 25 also upheld the ECP order, prompting the SIC to approach the apex court.
At the last hearing of the case, the ECP’s counsel had presented a summary of the nomination papers submitted by the PTI-backed independent candidates before the polls.
Commenting on the summary, one of the bench members—Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan—has noted that 35 of the 81 PTI-backed returned candidates did not disclose their affiliation with the PTI in the nomination papers.
