The federal government has decided to file a review petition against the Supreme Court (SC) on Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) appeal, declaring Imran Khan-founded PTI eligible for seats reserved for women and minorities. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Federal Information Minister Ata Tarar said that the government and coalition parties have decided to file review petition against the Supreme Court verdict, questioning whether those granted relief were present in court and whether the Constitution should not be implemented. He said that the petition will also ask whether the election act 2017 sections be declared void and whether the Parliament hold the authority to interpret and amend the Constitution or not. The minister emphasized that the government has a strong constitutional position on the matter and patience shown by government is being taken as weakness.

The presser came after a 13-member bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, ruled that the PTI is eligible for the allocation of reserved seats, dealing a major setback to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah announced the 8-5 majority verdict, setting aside the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) order wherein it had upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision denying the reserved seats to the SIC. Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Jamal Mandokhail, Justice Naeem Afghan, Justice Yahya Afridi, and Justice Ameenuddin Khan opposed the majority decision. The reserved seats issue came to limelight after over 80 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed independent candidates emerged victorious in the February 8 elections. The SIC then approached the ECP on February 21 seeking allocation of reserved seats. However, the PTI suffered a setback after the electoral body, citing the party’s failure to submit its list of candidates, denied allocating the reserved seats to the SIC via its 4-1 majority verdict on March 4.

The election commission distributed the reserved seats for women and minorities among other political parties. The PTI-backed SIC had approached the court after the ECP refused to allocate the reserved seats due to the party’s failure to submit its list of candidates before the deadline. The Peshawar High Court (PHC) upheld the ECP’s decision, leading the SIC to appeal to the Supreme Court. In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly – according to a notification, the ECP allocated one reserved seat each to Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). In Sindh Assembly – allocated reserved seat for women to Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and PPP. PPP’s Samita Afzal and MQM-P’s Fouzia Hameed elected on reserved seats.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan