The federal government on Monday ruled out the reallocation of 80 MNAs of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) despite the Supreme Court’s verdict in the reserved seats case issued earlier today.
In the long-awaited 8-5 majority verdict, the top court overturned the ECP and Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) decision to deprive SIC – the home of PTI-backed independents – of reserved seats and handing it over to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led ruling coalition.
The 8-5 majority verdict ruled that the PTI was eligible for reserved seats for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies. Despite the 8-5 split, 11 out of the 13 judges had declared the PTI a parliamentary party.
The 70-page detailed judgment was authored by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, who is set to succeed incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa as the top judge in October.
However, a lot has happened since the initial verdict was issued in July.
First, the government passed a new election law that barred PTI-backed ‘independent’ lawmakers from joining the party. The top court reprimanded the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for not fully implementing its short verdict.
And then, the National Assembly speaker wrote a letter to the ECP, telling it that the court order could not be acted upon.
Addressing a press conference later in the day, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said that after the recent amendments to the Elections Act, it was not possible to “reverse the clock” regarding the status of lawmakers.
Tarar said various previous court verdicts have maintained that parliament’s right to legislation would have greater priority over the apex court’s verdicts. The minister said he was “hurt” by the “strict words” used for the two dissenting judges in the detailed note.
“All judges in the court are equal and seniority does not weigh on decisions … difference is the beauty of debate and logic whenever we look at something in-depth and different opinions emerge and something better is found from them,” he added.
Gohar demands notification of reserved seats
On the other hand, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan condemned the ECP for not notifying PTI’s reserved seats despite a clear ruling from the Supreme Court.
“They have had four meetings now, yet they still have not notified us,” he said.
“We demand that the ECP notify our reserved seats as soon as possible.”
“The Supreme Court said that the Election Commission cannot take such a decision against any party,” Gohar added, stating that 40 of the 41 PTI candidates submitted affidavits to the Commission.
The chairman added that the PTI held a core committee this morning and discussed the SC’s decision. “The Supreme Court has further strengthened democracy,” he said.
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