The Supreme Court of Pakistan was aware from the start of the seminal importance of the case, and constituted the FullCourt to hear it. The decision rested upon an 8-5 decision, and recognized the PTI as a party irrespective of the denial to its candidates of the bat symbol by the Election Commission of Pakistan. The basic problem of the denial of reserved seats to the PTI was the allocation of reserved women and minority seats, which was made by the ECP to the remaining parties, which had allocated symbols to its candidates. The denial of tickets had resulted in the election of independents who formed the largest number in the National Assembly. The problem arises because reserved seats are not filled by election, but by allocation. The allocation is according to a list given by the party authority from among those candidates who had filed nominations for those seats. The Sunni Ittehad Council, which the PTI chose for its legal cover, had not filed a list of such candidates.
It was not simply a matter of party prestige or the ambition of those who would have got these seats. The ECP decision was clearly one enhancing the representation of the ruling coalition. Whereas through the allocation of seats the PTI should have won, the coalition had a two-thirds majority allowing it to amend the Constitution, but now it does not, though government circles were quick to point out that it had not lost its majority. The Supreme Court was clearly uncomfortable with the notion of violating the people’s mandate, and the use of reserved seats to tinker with the relative party strengths in a legislature. In effect, it also ended the checks that have been placed on political parties by military regimes since the 1960s. It seems that even if a party itself does not follow its own constitution, it cannot be deprived of its symbol. While that may seem problematic, this position seems to assume that the party’s right to allocate symbols is not as relevant as the voters’ right to have the ability to vote for a particular party through its candidate. Indeed, it is through that vote that the voter also castys a vote for the reser ved seat.
The Supreme Court laid down the law; now it is for the Legislature, through the National and Provincial Assemblies, to follow through. The PTI may feel triumphant, but it still has a long way to go before it can realise its goal of getting party chief Imran Khan out of jail and into Parliament.
