Islamabad (Web Desk): The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday clarified that recent amendments to election laws do not affect its ruling on the allocation of reserved seats.
Eight judges of the top court issued a comprehensive clarification in response to requests from both the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Both parties were seeking clarity on how recent changes to election laws might affect the court's earlier rulings.
The ECP had requested guidance on how the new amendments, particularly changes to Sections 66 and 104 and the introduction of Section 104-A, impacted the legal framework governing reserved seats. They were concerned about whether the court’s judgment from July 12 still applied after these legislative changes.
PTI, in a separate request, argued that the Supreme Court's decision was based on constitutional principles and should not be overridden by new laws. They maintained that the amendments could not retroactively affect the court's ruling regarding reserved seats in parliament.
In a two-page clarification, the court said, “Since the Commission and PTI both have asked for a second clarification, we want to simply clarify and reiterate the well-settled exposition of law that the effect of the amendment made in the Elections Act cannot undo our judgment with retrospective effect.
The Court granted the relief in the Short Order to enforce the right of the electorate through political parties to have proportional representation in the reserved seats under paragraphs (d) and (e) of clause (6) of Article 51 and paragraph (c) of clause (3) of Article 106 of the Constitution, therefore, the amendments made in the Elections Act after the release of our Short Order will have no bearing and the Commission is bound to implement the judgment passed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in its letter and spirit, without seeking any further clarification.”
It said, “Office is directed to send this clarification to the Commission and the representative of PTI who filed the application for clarification and also upload this clarification on the Supreme Court website. Both the Civil Misc. Applications are disposed of accordingly.”