ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC), on Monday, halted the Peshawar High Court’s ruling regarding reserved seats, after accepting the plea from the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) against the decision.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had previously dismissed the party’s plea, which resulted in them being denied reserved seats.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, while accepting the SIC’s plea against the PHC verdict, questioned the legality of seat allocation to other parties. A three-member bench, led by Justice Shah and including Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah, heard the SIC’s plea presented by Advocate Faisal Siddiqui.
The Supreme Court decided to prevent members who had taken oath on reserved seats from voting in legislation until the case is heard on a daily basis starting from June 3. The court emphasized that the issue primarily revolves around additional reserved seats assigned to political parties later on.
Previously in March, a PHC bench headed by Chief Justice Ibrahim Khan had dismissed the SIC’s petition against the ECP’s decision, stating procedural and legal defects. Consequently, the ECP ruled that the SIC was ineligible for reserved seats designated for women and minorities.
Following the ECP’s decision, the SIC approached the Supreme Court urging the allocation of seats and challenging the PHC ruling. Their plea argues that reserved seats should be distributed based on proportional representation, without favoring any party.
The distribution of reserved seats has been a contentious issue between the SIC and other political parties, notably Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and others.
Several members from these parties have taken oath on reserved seats following the PHC’s decision.
During the hearing, Justice Shah questioned the legality of distributing seats beyond a party’s proportional representation in the assemblies, emphasizing the need to protect the public mandate.
Justice Minallah also raised concerns about disregarding a party’s mandate and the fate of remaining reserved seats.
