Reserved seats: ECP to submit a request for a review of the SC decision
Reportedly, the ECP has given its legal counsel instructions to draft an appeal against the decision, which will be submitted in the next 48 hours.
Sources stated that the commission will defend its jurisdiction in the supreme court as an independent constitutional body.
According to sources, the ECP intends to contest the ruling of the supreme court, which granted independent contenders a fifteen-day period to file their documents. Independent candidates have three days, per the constitution, to turn in their papers, sources continued.
The Supreme Court’s ruling to permit candidates who were denied party tickets to run for office has drawn criticism from the ECP as well, according to sources. Furthermore, ECP officials noted that merely writing “Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf” on nomination papers does not qualify someone as a party candidate.
Sources claimed that in order to resolve any ambiguities in the ruling, the ECP has already written to the highest court. Nevertheless, sources stated that the Supreme Court has not yet answered the ECP’s inquiries.
Supreme Court decision
With a huge blow to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition, a 13-member bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa decided that the PTI is entitled to reserved seats.
Declaring the 8–5 majority decision, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah overturned the PHC’s (Peshawar High Court) ruling that had affirmed the ECP’s (Electoral Commission of Pakistan) decision to deny the SIC the reserved seats.
Judge Jamal Mandokhail, Judge Naeem Afghan, Judge Yahya Afridi, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, and Judge Ameenuddin Khan disapproved of the majority ruling.
The problem of reserved seats
More than eighty independent candidates supported by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won the elections on February 8, bringing the issue of reserved seats to light.
In order to request the assignment of reserved seats, the SIC then went to the ECP on February 21.
But the PTI was dealt a blow when the election board refused to award the SIC the reserved seats in a 4-1 majority decision on March 4, citing the party’s noncompliance in submitting its list of candidates.
Among other political parties, the electoral commission assigned the reserved seats for women and minorities.
The ECP declined to assign the reserved seats to the PTI-backed SIC since the party had not filed its list of candidates by the deadline. As a result, the SIC filed an appeal with the court. Following an appeal to the Supreme Court by the SIC, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) maintained the ruling of the ECP.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Pakistan, and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) each received one reserved seat in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, according a notification from the ECP.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and PPP have been allotted reserved seats for women in the Sindh Assembly. Reserved seats were won by MQM-P’s Fouzia Hameed and PPP’s Samita Afzal.
A two-thirds majority in the National Assembly was then made possible by the PHC ruling, which was supported by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and other allies. By this ruling, the SIC retained 82 seats, the PML-N gained 123, and the PPP gained 73.