ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court suspended over and above initially allocated women and minorities reserved seats to other political parties in the National Assembly and the Provincial Assemblies.
A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah on Monday heard Sunni Ittehad Council’s petitions. The bench suspended the judgment of Peshawar High Court (PHC) dated 25-03-2024 and the order of Election Commission of Pakistan dated March 1, 2024 regarding the allocation of remaining reserved seats to other parties.
It, however, clarified that this interim order relates to the disputed seats only, i.e., the reserved seats allocated over and above the initially allocated reserved seats to the political parties. It is also clarified that this order is to operate prospectively, wef, from today (May 5, 2024).
The court said that since the questions under consideration require constitutional interpretation, the matter be placed before the Committee under Section 4 of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023 for the constitution of a larger bench to hear the appeals.
The bench issued notices to the attorney general for Pakistan (AGP), and the advocates-general of the provinces under Order XXVII-A CPC.
At the onset of the proceeding, the counsel for the petitioners submits that allocation of the reserved seats for women and non-Muslims to the political parties other than the petitioner, SIC, is in violation of Article 51(6)(d) and (e) of the Constitution, which provides for proportional representation system on the basis of total number of general seats secured by each political party from the province concerned in the National Assembly.
Advocate Faisal Siddiqui stated that once a political party has been allocated the reserved seats on the basis of the proportional representation system, the remaining seats cannot be re-allocated to the same political party. He submitted that as per a letter issued by the ECP dated 25.04.2024, it has been acknowledged by the Commission that SIC is a parliamentary party having 82 general seats in the National Assembly. Therefore, the SIC is entitled to reserved seats as per the proportional representation system in terms of Articles 51(6)(d) and (e) and 106(2)(c) of the Constitution.
However, advocate Sikandar Bashir Mohmand, representing ECP, argued that according to Articles 51 and 106 of the Constitution, the reserved seats have to be allocated on the proportional representation system only to those political parties who have contested the general elections and won at least one seat in the said elections.
He further contended that since the SIC did not contest the elections and did not win even a single seat in the general elections, it cannot be considered as a political party in terms of Articles 51(6)(d) and (e) and 106(2)(c) of the Constitution, for the purpose of allocating the reserved seats.
AGP Mansoor Usman Awan supported the contentions of the ECP’s counsel. Both the AGP and the ECP counsel frankly concede that this is a case of first impression involving questions of constitutional law that have not been addressed by the court earlier.
They stated that the questions of allocation of reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies touch upon the foundational constitutional concept of a parliamentary democracy that the voice of the electorate is truly reflected in the composition of the assemblies.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024