Islamabad: A 13-member full-court bench of the Supreme Court on Monday resumed hearing on a plea filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) challenging the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) verdict.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa headed the bench, comprising all the available judges apart from Justice Musarrat Hilali, the sources said. Justice Hilali will not be part of the bench due to a heart ailment.
During the hearing, Justice Mandokhail remarked that the public did not vote for an independent candidate but rather the candidates being supported by a political party. “This was the people’s right; the people voted for the PTI,” he added.
Earlier this month, a three-member SC bench headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, and including Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah, suspended the PHC verdict and referred the matter to the judges’ committee for the formation of a larger bench.
In its written order, the court stated that the questions of allocation of reserved seats in the National and provincial assemblies touch upon the foundational constitutional concept of parliamentary democracy that the voice of the electorate is truly reflected in the composition of the assemblies.
In March, a five-member larger bench of the PHC led by Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and including Justices Ijaz Anwar, S M Attique Shah, Shakeel Ahmed and Syed Arshad Ali rejected the SIC plea challenging the denial of reserved seats.
Earlier, the ECP rejected the SIC plea seeking the allocation of reserved seats.
The ECP, in a 4-1 verdict, said the SIC is not entitled to claim quota for reserved seats due to having “non curable legal defects and violation of a mandatory provision of submission of party list for reserved seats which is the requirement of law”.
“The seats in the National Assembly shall not remain vacant and will be allotted by proportional representation process of political parties on the basis of seats won by political parties,” the order said.
PTI-backed lawmakers after winning elections joined the SIC.
