Election commission violated Constitution itself,’ SC judge remarks in reserved seats case
Hearing the reserved seats case of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), the Supreme Court (SC) examined whether the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) committed a constitutional violation.
Justice Athar Minallah remarked that the election commission had itself committed a serious violation of the Constitution, and questioned if, as guardians of fundamental rights, it was the court’s responsibility to correct it.
A full court bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa heard the matter, during which Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan presented his arguments. Other members of the bench were Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
The hearing of the case was telecast live on the Supreme Court website and YouTube channel. Counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan said according to the Constitution, the reserved seats are given to political parties and not to independent candidates, and the political parties are eligible for reserved seats when they win at least one seat. He further said that the number of reserved seats for non-Muslims was 10.
Justice Mandokhel remarked that seats were mentioned in Article 51, not membership. Justice Akhtar said that Article 224 is an exception, otherwise no assembly seat can be left vacant, adding that the basis of parliamentary system was political parties.
“But, the question is, where did such a large number of independent candidates come from? Did the people themselves elect these people as independent candidates? Didn’t the election commission itself declare these people independent? When this has happened, shouldn’t the court correct this mistake? Shouldn’t a legal option be adopted that would remedy this mistake?” the judge asked.
