Islamabad: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to comply with Supreme Court’s order on allotting reserved seats to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
On July 12, the top court overturned the denial of reserved seats to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), paving the way for a major legal victory for Imran Khan’s party.
The decision was announced by a 13-member bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising 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.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah announced the 8-5 majority verdict, nullifying the Peshawar High Court's (PHC) order wherein it had upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision denying the reserved seats to the SIC.
The decision was supported by Justices Athar Minallah, Shahid Waheed, Muneeb Akhtar, Muhammad Ali Mazhar Ayesha Malik, Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, and Irfan Saadat Khan.
CJP Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Jamal Mandokhail, Justice Naeem Afghan, Justice Yahya Afridi, and Justice Ameenuddin Khan opposed the majority decision.
As per the verdict, candidates of the PTI cannot be declared independent candidates, nor representatives of any other party as the ECP had incorrectly declared members of PTI as independents.
“The PTI was a political party, remains a political party,” the order said while instructing the PTI to submit a list of its reserved seats candidates within 15 days.
The verdict further read that the ECP should then publish the list of reserved seats of the candidates on its website within seven days.