SIC RESERVED SEATS: SC SUSPENDS ECP, PHC ORDERS In partnership with
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Tuesday, 7 May, 2024 I |28 Shawwal, 1445
BENCH UNANIMOUSLY SUSPENDS ECP’S DECISION FOR RE-ALLOCATION OF RESERVED SEATS TO OTHER POLITICAL PARTIES
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THREE-JUDGE BENCH GRANTS LEAVE TO APPEAL, ADJOURNS MATTER TILL JUNE 3
STAFF REPORT
HE apex court on Monday suspended the verdict of the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) verdict on reserved seat while accepting the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) plea against the high court’s ruling. The bench unanimously suspended the ECP’s decision for the reallocation of reserved seats to other political parties. “[We are accepting the [SIC’s] pleas [against the PHC verdict], Justice Mansoor Ali Shah stated, and asked under what law [reserved] seats were allocated to other parties. A three-member bench headed by Justice Shah and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah heard the SIC’s plea filed through Advocate Faisal Siddiqui last month. The SC, while barring the members who have taken oath on the reserved seats, from casting their votes in legislation, said that it will hear the case on a daily basis from June 3. The court also noted that the said issue only concerns the additional reserved seats allotted to the political parties later on. In March, a five-member PHC bench, headed by Chief Justice Ibrahim Khan, and comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, Justice Ijaz Anwar, Justice Arshad Ali and Justice Shakeel Ahmad had rejected the SIC’s petition against ECP’s decision depriving it of reserved seats. The electoral body had ruled that the SIC was not eligible for reserved seats
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allotted to women and minorities “due to non-curable procedural and legal defects
and violations of mandatory provisions of the Constitution”.
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should have been formed to take up the crucial matter. A three-judge bench, led by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, granted leave to appeal and adjourned the matter till June 3. The bench unanimously suspended the ECP’s decision for the re-allocation of reserved seats to other political parties. The PHC through its earlier verdict dashed the PTI’s hopes of getting reserved seats as it dismissed the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) petition
While rejecting the plea of SIC, the ECP accepted applications of the opposing parties and decided that the seats in the National Assembly would not remain vacant and be allocated by a proportional representation process of political parties on the basis of seats won by political parties. In response, the SIC moved the SC court last month urging the apex court to allot the party the 67 women and 11 minority seats in the National and provincial assemblies and set aside the PHC ruling. The SIC’s plea contends that reserved seats for women and minorities are given to the parties in the national and provincial assemblies on the basis of proportional representation and no party can be given more reserved seats than its representation.
Opposition welcomes, govt voices concern after SC’s verdict on PTI-SIC reserved seats STAFF REPORT
While Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led opposition alliance on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court order that suspended the allocation of reserved seats to other parties by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the federal government expressed concerns, arguing that a larger bench
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challenging the ECP’s ruling that denied reserved seats to the party. PTI-backed independent candidates had found a new home in the SIC after the party lost its election symbol as a result of the ruling in the intra-party election case. This is the first time the PTI has managed to secure relief from the apex court during the tenure of CJP Qazi Faez Isa.
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Faizabad sit-in case: CJP Isa expresses dismay at fact-finding commission’s report ISLAMABAD
STAFF REPORT
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa on Monday expressed his dissatisfaction with the report submitted by an inquiry commission formed to investigate the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) 2017 Faizabad sit-in, remarking that the probe body was not even aware of its responsibility. CJP Isa inquired whether the AGP had seen the report submitted by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), to which the latter replied in the negative. The chief justice then directed the AGP to review the ECP report and gave a break in the hearing. After the hearing resumed, Justice Isa expressed his indignation over the report. The AGP informed the court the commission’s head was present and could be questioned. He recalled that Gen (rtd) Faiz Hameed had told the commission that it was not the InterServices Intelligence’s (ISI) responsibility to look into the financial support of terrorists. “If it’s not their responsibility then whose responsibility is it?” Justice Isa retorted. He questioned what kind of report the commission had made and inquired where the rest of its members were. While scrutinising the report, CJP Isa pointed out that while one paragraph said it was not the ISI’s responsibility, another said no evidence was found of TLP being financially assisted. Justice Isa asked the AGP to reflect on how much loss the country had suffered because of the Faizabad sitin. “Kill, vandalise and leave; what method is this?” Expressing his dismay at the report, CJP Isa said, “I cannot comprehend what level of mind prepared this report. The commission does not even know what its responsibility was.” “The commission prepared the report based on Gen Hameed’s statement,” he remarked. “No one cares about the loss to Pakistan,” the top judge said, asking about the whereabouts of other commission members. “Let’s assume that the Punjab government pelted stones and also set cars on fire; whose government was it in Punjab at the time?” CJP Isa asked, to which the AGP replied that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was the province’s chief minister back then. “The report mentions Punjab inspector general,” Justice Isa noted, remarking, “It seems there was an old feud with the IG so that the score is even.”
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