ISLAMABAD: The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) filed a challenge against the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) decision to maintain the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to deny them the reserved seats. The Supreme Court reserved its ruling on Tuesday.
Under the direction of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, a 13-member full court bench heard arguments today from SIC’s Faisal Siddiqui and Kanwal Shauzab’s Barrister Salman Akram Raja.
Judges Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Muneeb Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Amin-ud-din Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan round out the bench.
“ECP attempted to censor its record in court.”
The attorney for SIC stated during today’s session that the ECP’s ruling about the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) receiving reserved seats was legal and that the electoral body was merely acting as though it had no authority to make such a decision.
The attorney asked, “Can a party which won 18 general seats be allocated 30 reserved seats?”
At this point, CJP Isa replied: “If your logic is applied then you should get no seats at all as you didn’t win any seats.”
The attorney added that the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) had been assigned reserved seats by the ECP.
Additionally, he emphasized that Hamid Raza, the head of SIC, had turned in a paper proving his membership.
The chief justice said, “If we accept your arguments, then the PTI would be allocated the reserved seats.”
In response, Siddiqui stated that the SIC, which is represented in the parliament, would really receive the reserved seats.
Barrister Raja stated during his presentation that the ECP had deemed the PTI-backed candidates independent.
