ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court suspended the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) verdict denying the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) — the new home for PTI lawmakers-elect — reserved seats for women and minorities.
The development came as a three-member bench — headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and including Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah — took up an SIC appeal against the PHC order.
The Supreme Court took up a petition filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) — the new home for PTI lawmakers-elect — against the denial of reserved seats for women and minorities.The SIC had earlier been joined by PTI-backed independent candidates after they won the Feb 8 elections as their party had been deprived of its electoral symbol ‘bat’.
In a 4-1 verdict in March, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had ruled that the SIC was 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”.
The commission had also decided to distribute the seats among other parliamentary parties, with the PML-N and the PPP becoming major beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the verdict was rejected by the PTI as unconstitutional.
Later the same month, while ruling on an SIC plea, the PHC had dismissed an SIC plea challenging the ECP decision and denied it reserved seats.In April, the SIC filed a petition — moved by party chief Sahibzada Hamid Raza — before the SC seeking to set aside the PHC judgment.
Lawyer Faisal Siddiqui appeared before the court today as the SIC counsel, while Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan and an ECP official were also summoned during the hearing.
Accepting the SIC appeal for hearing, the apex court clarified that the PHC order upholding the ECP decision was suspended to the extent of the remaining reserved seats given to other parties.
After deciding that the SIC was ineligible for the reserved seats, the ECP had allocated an additional 16 seats to the PML-N, five to the PPP and four to the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).
At the outset of the hearing, Siddiqui came to the rostrum to present his arguments and informed the court that PTI-backed independent candidates who had won the general elections had joined the SIC.
