A panel of 13 judges, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, considered the request. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan were also members of the bench.
Faisal Siddiqui, the legal representative of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), stated to the Supreme Court on Tuesday that he will demonstrate that the Election Commission (ECP) has failed to carry out its duties.
He stated that he would be concise and require 15 minutes to present his argument.
Advocate Siddiqui contended that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) asserted that the Sindh Information Commission (SIC) did not take part in the polls and failed to provide the list of candidates for reserved seats.
He contended that the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) did not secure any seats in the 2018 elections, but instead obtained three reserved seats. The ECP filed a biassed response about the BAP election.
Prior to approaching the Supreme Court, the matter was brought up before the ECP. He stated that the ECP’s assertion was inconsistent with its own records. Is it not a misrepresentation of facts?
Justice Mandokhail inquired whether the lawyer believed that the decision made by the ECP was in conformity with the Constitution. He responded that in 2018, it was in compliance with the law.
Justice Minallah asked him if the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the reserved seats for the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) had been challenged.
Advocate Siddiqui stated that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would have acknowledged the occurrence of an error. However, it disregarded the existence of the ruling concerning the BAP.
After considering the reasons presented by the respondents, the Supreme Court has not yet announced its decision.
On May 6, the Supreme Court issued a suspension of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the ruling of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) over the reserved seats of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
The three-member panel, led by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and including Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah, temporarily halted the decision regarding the distribution of reserved seats to other political parties.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah stated that the matter has been scheduled for a hearing and “we are overturning the verdicts of the ECP and PHC.”
The election commission allocated the reserved seats for women and minorities to several political parties.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly has given one reserved seat each to Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), as stated in a notification by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The Sindh Assembly has assigned a designated seat for women to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Samita Afzal from the PPP and Fouzia Hameed from the MQM-P have been elected on reserved seats.
In addition, PPP’s Sadhu Mal, also known as Surinder Valasai, won a seat reserved for minorities in the Sindh Assembly.
The ECP assigned three reserved seats for minorities to PML-N, PPP, and JUI-F, but these seats were contested by the Sunni Ittehad Council. Neelam Meghwar from PML-N, Ramesh Kumar from PPP, and James Iqbal from JUI-F were chosen to represent the minority seats.
