ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court full court has taken up the plea of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) on Monday (today) against the decisions of the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) as well as of the Election Commission of Pakistan regarding denial to reserved seats for women and minorities.
A SC 13-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising all available judges except Justice Musarrat Hilali, who is absent due to a heart condition will hear the plea.
On May 6, a three-member Supreme Court bench, consisting of Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, and Justice Athar Minallah, suspended the PHC’s decision and referred the matter to the judges’ committee to form a larger bench due to the need for constitutional interpretation.
In its written order, the court noted that the allocation of reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies is fundamental to the concept of parliamentary democracy, ensuring that the electorate’s voice is accurately represented.
“The democratic mandate requires that the allocation of reserved seats increases the representativeness of the electorate in the assemblies, upholding fairness and transparency in the electoral process. It is crucial to maintain the integrity of the elections so that the Parliament reflects the true will of the people,” the court stated, granting leave to appeal.
In April, SIC leader Sahibzada Hamid Raza and the speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly appealed to the Supreme Court against the PHC’s decision, seeking the allotment of 67 women and 11 minority seats in the assemblies and the overturning of the high court’s verdict.
Following the February 8 general elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan decided not to allocate reserved seats for women and minorities to the SIC because it had not submitted its list of candidates for those seats. This decision was upheld by the PHC.
The Hamid Raza-led SIC gained prominence after PTI-backed independent candidates, who won in the February 8 polls, joined it following their party’s loss of the electoral symbol “bat.”
Nevertheless, PTI’s attempt to claim the reserved seats was blocked in March when the commission ruled that the SIC was not entitled to the quota for reserved seats due to legal defects and the failure to submit the party list for reserved seats.
The commission not only denied the reserved seats to SIC but also redistributed them among other parties.
