ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court on Monday issued its detailed verdict on the July 12 order in the reserved seats case, declaring the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) a parliamentary party and eligible for the seats’ quota.
The 8-5 majority verdict has been penned by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, who is set to success incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa next month.
A 13-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising justices Mansoor Ali Shah, Shahid Waheed, Ayesha Malik, Irfan Saadat, Athar Minallah, Muneeb Akhtar, Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Muhammad Ali Mazhar, had heard the case.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah had announced the majority ruling while Justices Munib Akhtar, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha A Malik, Athar Minallah, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Shahid Waheed and Irfan Saadat Khan threw weight behind it.
Despite 8-5 verdict, all judges ruled with consensus that the PTI is a parliamentary party. The top court ordered that out of a list of 80 MNAs, 39 belonged to the PTI while 41 were provided an opportunity to resubmit their party affiliation to the Election Commission of Pakistan.
The top court ruled, “When election authorities engage in actions […] such as unlawfully denying the recognition of a major political party and treating its nominated candidates as independents, they not only compromise the rights of these candidates but also significantly infringe upon the rights of the electorate and corrode their own institutional legitimacy.”
“The importance of free and fair elections in a democracy cannot be overstated. The judiciary’s role in ensuring electoral integrity and upholding the will of the people is essential for sustaining public trust in the democratic process,” the order read.
The apex court emphasised that the “court’s power to do ‘complete justice’ is a critical tool in preventing democratic backsliding and protecting democracy effectively”.
The majority ruling also expressed “some doubts about whether the Commission has the power to reject the certificate of intra-party elections submitted by a political party under Section 209, and whether the Commission exercised its discretion under Section 215(5) justly, fairly and reasonably in PTI’s case, adding “fundamental right of citizens to vote for the political party of their choice was at stake”.
“Similarly, we have certain reservations about how the matter of intraparty elections — a matter of internal governance of party — can trump the fundamental rights of citizens to vote and of political parties to effectively participate in and contest elections through obtaining a common symbol for their candidates, guaranteed under Articles 17(2) and 19 of the Constitution.
“However, since these questions are sub judice in the review petition filed by PTI against this Court’s judgment dated 13 January 2024, we abstain from examining and expressing our definitive view on them,” the top court ruled.
SC Verdict on PTI Reserved SeatsMore to follow…
