Islamabad (Web Desk): The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday adjourned the hearing of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) plea against denial of reserved seats for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies.
A full court 13-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, is hearing the petition
The proceedings were broadcast live on the SC’s website and its YouTube channel.
Following the February 8 elections, where Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independent candidates joined SIC after the PTI lost its electoral symbol 'bat' due to a ruling by the apex court.
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) withdrew PTI’s electoral symbol, a move ratified by the Supreme Court.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a 4-1 verdict ruled in March that SIC could not claim reserved seats due to significant legal flaws and failure to submit a mandatory party list for such seats.
Later, the ECP redistributed these seats among other parliamentary parties, benefiting primarily Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 16 and five additional seats respectively, while Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) received four seats. PTI rejected this verdict as unconstitutional.
In the same month, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) dismissed an SIC plea challenging the ECP's decision to deny them reserved seats.
On May 6, a three-member Supreme Court bench, led by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and including Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah, suspended the PHC decision. The case was then referred to a larger bench due to its constitutional implications.
In late May, a full court had been constituted to hear the case, comprising all judges except Justice Musarrat Hilali.
As the case was taken up on June 3, Justice Mandokhail had noted that the public did not vote for independent candidates but those nominated by the PTI in the February 8 general elections.
Meanwhile, Justice Shah suggested that the controversy could be ended if the ECP gave the formerly independent candidate another three days to decide afresh whether to join another political party.
During previous hearings, the chief justice noted that issues might have been avoided if PTI had conducted intra-party elections. Last week, the ECP submitted a response, arguing that SIC does not meet the criteria for reserved seats as it excludes non-Muslims from its membership.
On Saturday, the ECP justified its decision to deny reserved seats to SIC for women and non-Muslims through a statement submitted by Senior Counsel Sikandar Bashir Mohmand to the Supreme Court.
The electoral body argued that SIC did not qualify for reserved seats as it did not meet the constitutional criteria of being a political party under Articles 51(6)(d), 56(6)(e), and 106(3)(c) of the Constitution.
Additionally, SIC failed to submit a timely priority list (Form 66) for reserved seats as required by the election program.
The ECP also pointed out that Article 3 of SIC's constitution restricted party membership to adult Muslims only, which contradicted constitutional provisions on freedom of association, freedom to profess religion, and equality of citizens (Articles 17, 20, and 25).
Advocate Faisal Siddiqui appeared before the court today and began presenting his arguments. At around 11am, a break was introduced in the hearing, which then resumed some 40 minutes later.
After Siddiqui had concluded his arguments, Asad Jan Durrani, the counsel for KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, came to the rostrum.
Following Durrani’s brief arguments, Advocate Salman Akram Raja, a petitioner who also contested the Feb 8 elections as a PTI-backed candidate, came to the rostrum and started his arguments.
"Why did the independent candidates leave PTI when it is a political party? Why did you commit suicide by joining another party which goes against your arguments?" asked the chief justice.
CJP Isa remarked that had the independent candidates stayed with the PTI, there would have been no problem today.
Following the today's proceeding, the Supreme Court said PTI leader Kanwal Shuzab's counsel Salman Akram Raja and SIC counsel Faisal Siddiqui have completed their arguments in the case.
The CJP directed the counsels of other respondents to keep their arguments concise as the court will not allow more time as the counsels for PPP, ECP and the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) will present their arguments in the next hearing.
The top court adjourned the hearing of the case till tomorrow (Tuesday).