ISLAMABAD: Justice Ayesha Malik of the Supreme Court stated on Monday that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) controls the formula for allocating reserved seats, hence possessing the authority to declare any contender as independent.
Judge Malik stated, “The ECP can declare anyone independent as per its will,” during the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) appeal against the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) ruling that upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to deny them the reserved seats. The SC bench, which consists of 13 members, heard the case.
Judge Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Athar Minallah, and Justice Syed Hassan Azhar make up the bench, which is presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa.
Sikander Bashir, the attorney for the ECP, informed the court at today’s hearing that Barrister Gohar Khan had signed Form 66 and party affiliation certificates supplied by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Inaf (PTI).
Nonetheless, the attorney argued that the party had neither elected a party chairman nor conducted intra-party surveys at the time, so the nomination papers submitted by its candidates were invalid.
Regarding the topic of intra-party polls, CJP Isa stated that it is a well-known truth that, despite having a year to prepare, the PTI was unable to hold internal elections.
