The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ruled in favor of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), declaring that they are entitled to reserved seats. The court deemed the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to allocate these seats to the ruling coalition as unconstitutional.
This decision came from the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) reserved seat case. And was announced by a full bench led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
The bench included 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 Supreme Court suspended previous decisions by the ECP and the Peshawar High Court (PHC) regarding the allocation. The verdict clarified that PTI candidates cannot be declared independents or representatives of any other party. It also criticized the ECP’s incorrect classification. The court has ordered PTI to submit its list of reserved seat candidates within 15 days.
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The decision was reached by an 8-5 majority, with Chief Justice Isa and Justices Mandokhail, Afghan, Afridi, and Ameenuddin Khan dissenting. This ruling underscores the need for proportional representation and clearer guidelines for the allocation of reserved seats. It further addresses major concerns about electoral fairness in Pakistan.
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