- Majority 8-5 verdict of full court bench, announced by CJP, suspends ECP, PHC decisions on reserved seats
- PTI was a political party, remains a political party and ECP had incorrectly declared its members as independents: ruling
- Verdict instructs PTI to submit a list of its reserved seats candidates within 15 days
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday ruled that Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) eligible for seats reserved for women and minorities and that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s decision of allocating reserved seats to the ruling coalition was un-constitutional.
“The order of the Election Commission of Pakistan, dated 1st of March 2024, is declared to be to ultra vires to (beyond the powers of) the Constitution, without lawful authority and of no legal effect,” the order of the verdict read while announced by a 13-member full court bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
The larger bench comprised of Justices – Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Munib Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha Malik, Athar Minallah, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Shahid Waheed, Irfan Saadat Khan, and Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
The majority 8-5 full court bench verdict suspended the previous decisions of ECP and PHC regarding the allocation of reserved seats.
The majority verdict was given by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Irfan Saadat, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar.
Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Jamal Mandokhail, Justice Naeem Afghan, Justice Yahya Afridi, and Justice Ameenuddin Khan opposed the majority decision.
In his dissenting note, Justice Yahya Afridi said that candidates who provided PTI affiliation certificates should be declared PTI candidates and be allocated reserved seats proportionally.
“Candidates of the PTI cannot be declared independent candidates, nor representatives of any other party. The PTI was a political party, remains a political party and the ECP had incorrectly declared members of PTI as independents,” the order said while instructing the PTI to submit a list of its reserved seats candidates within 15 days.
Justice Ameenuddin Khan rejected the SIC’s appeal while Justice Naeem Afghan agreed with his note.
CJP Isa and Justice Jamal Mandokhail noted that the SIC did not win any seats nor submit a list for reserved seats and emphasized the constitutional concept of proportional representation.
The SIC had earlier held a large protest outside the apex court ahead of the announcement.
Yesterday, the court had reserved its decision on the matter after closing the hearing on a set of appeals moved by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) against the denial of reserved seats for women and non-Muslims by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
PTI-backed candidates, who had contested and won the February 8 elections as independents after their party was stripped of its election symbol, had joined the SIC to form a coalition of convenience.
The top court on Friday annulled the decision of the PHC while also declaring the decision of the election regulator null and void, terming it against the Constitution of Pakistan.
“The notifications of various dates, whereby the persons respectively mentioned therein, being the persons identified in the commission’s notification, dated 13th of May, 2024, have been declared to be returned candidates for reserved seats for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies, are declared to be ultra vires to the Constitution, without lawful authority and of no legal effect, and are quashed from 6th of May 2024 onwards, being the date an interim order was made by the court in CPLA no. 13289 of 2024, the leave petitions out of which the instant appeals arise.”
The verdict also declared that “the lack or denial of an election symbol does not in any manner affect the constitutional and legal rights of a political party to participate in an election (whether general or by) and to field candidates and the Commission is under a constitutional duty to act, and construe and apply all statutory provisions, accordingly.”
The verdict further declared that “for purposes, and within the meaning, of paragraphs (d) and (e) of clause (6) of Article 51 (“Article 51 Provisions”) and paragraph (c) of clause (3) of Article 106 (“Article 106 Provisions”) of the Constitution, the Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf (“PTI”) was and is a political party, which secured or won (the two terms being interchangeable) general seats in the National and Provincial Assemblies in the General Elections of 2024.”
It also said that in the 2024 General Election, 39 candidates from PTI were confirmed as elected members according to Article 51 Provisions.
“In the peculiar facts and circumstances of the General Election of 2024, it is declared that out of the aforesaid 80 returned candidates (now MNAs) those (being 39 in all and whose particulars are set out in Annex A to this Order) in respect of whom the Commission has shown “PTI” in any one of the aforesaid columns in the List, were and are the returned candidates whose seats were and have been secured by the PTI within the meaning, and for purposes of, para 5 above in relation to the Article 51 Provisions.”
The reserved seats issue
In March last, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), in a 4-1 verdict, had ruled that the SIC was not entitled to the reserved seats “due to having non-curable legal defects and violation of a mandatory provision of submission of party list for reserved seats”.
Following the decision, the commission distributed the seats to other parliamentary parties, with the PML-N and the PPP becoming major beneficiaries with 16 and five additional seats while the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) was given four. Meanwhile, the verdict was rejected by the PTI as unconstitutional.
Later the same month, while ruling on an SIC plea, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) had dismissed an SIC plea challenging the ECP decision and denied it reserved seats.
In April, the SIC filed a petition before the SC — moved by party chief Sahibzada Hamid Raza — seeking to set aside the PHC judgment.
The apex court on May 6 had suspended the March 14 PHC judgment as well as the March 1 ECP decision to deprive the SIC of seats reserved for women and minorities.
The SC had also ordered placing the present petitions before the three-judge committee that determines the constitution of the bench for the reconstitution of a larger bench when Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan highlighted that under Section 4 of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023, the present case should be heard by a larger bench since the issue concerns the interpretation of constitutional provisions.
The ECP subsequently suspended victory notifications of as many as 77 members of the national and provincial assemblies elected on those seats.
The suspended lawmakers include 44 from PML-N, 15 from PPP, 13 from JUI-F and one each from PML-Q, IPP, PTI-P, MQM-P and ANP.
Resultantly, the ruling coalition lost a two-thirds majority in the lower house of Parliament for now, with its numerical strength shrinking to 209 from 228. In the House of 336, the magic figure to attain a two-thirds majority comes to 224.
The PML-N’s strength in the House has reduced from 121 to 107 while PPP’s from 72 to 67.
Those suspended include 22 members of the National Assembly elected on reserved seats for women and minorities. They include 14 from PML-N, five from PPP and three from JUI-F.
Headed by the CJP, a full court meeting on Wednesday had considered various aspects of the controversy at length since the case is of first impression and will have a far-reaching impact on the allotment of the reserved seats among political parties in the legislature in the future as well.
The real controversy before the court was how to deal with the reserved seats if they are neither doled out to other parties having a presence in Parliament and provincial assemblies nor allotted to the SIC that did not contest the Feb 8 general elections and thus failed to secure a single seat — a legal requirement for the allotment of reserved seats according to the ECP.
The SIC, however, argued that under the concept of a proportionate representation system, it was not a constitutional requirement for the allocation of reserved seats that a political party having general seats in the assemblies had contested the general elections.
PRESIDENT, PM INFORMED ABOUT RULING AT AIWAN-E-SADR LUNCHEON
The President, Prime Minister, and Army Chief who were attending a luncheon at Aiwan-e-Sadr in honour of the Azerbaijani President were informed about the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the reserved seats of the PTI while dining.
Federal Minister Attaullah Tarar first informed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif about the Supreme Court’s decision.
Army Chief General Asim Munir was also briefed about the decision at the dining table. The Foreign Minister, Defense Minister, and Law Minister provided further details.
The channel reported that President Asif Ali Zardari was engaged in talks with the guest President during the luncheon when the news broke.
Commenting over the Supreme Court’s decision in favour of the rival Pakistan-e-Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Federal ministers said. “This was the expected decision and a popular verdict.”
