Islamabad: The Supreme Court annulled the decision of the Peshawar High Court and the Election Commission regarding the specific seats of the Sunni Ittehad Council.
A 13-member larger bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faiz Isa, had reserved the verdict in the case regarding the specific seats of the Sunni Unity Council, which was pronounced by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah.
In the presence of Attorney General Mansoor Awan, Election Commission lawyer Sikandar Bashir and PTI leaders, the decision was pronounced in room number one of the Supreme Court.
Election Commission’s notification of May declared unconstitutional
The court declared the Election Commission’s notification of May 13 unconstitutional. The majority decision of the Supreme Court has said that a party cannot be deprived of the electoral process by depriving it of an election symbol.
PTI entitled to women and minority seats
The Supreme Court in a majority judgment declared that PTI is a political party. The PTI is entitled to women and minority seats. On June 27, the Election Commission issued an order, stating that some nomination papers had party affiliation. 40 out of 80 people decide in 15 days which party to belong to.
Deprivation of election symbol does not terminate the right of a party to participate in the election
The Supreme Court said in the decision that the elected members of National and Provincial Assembly should submit the affidavit of Tehreek-e-Insaf. The Election Commission’s decision is against the Constitution. Deprivation of election symbol does not terminate the right of a party to participate in the election.
Dissent from the majority decision
Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa, Justice Jamal Mandukhel, Justice Naeem Afghan, Justice Aminuddin Khan opposed the majority decision. Justice Yahya Afridi in his dissenting note said that the candidates who have given certificates that they are from PTI should be declared PTI candidates. PTI should be given reserved seats in the same ratio. Candidates who joined other parties defied the will of the people.
Justice Aminuddin Khan, in his dissenting note, said that the appeal of the Sunni Alliance Council was rejected. Justice Naeem Afghan said that I also agree with the dissenting note of Justice Aminuddin Khan.
Chief Justice and Justice Jamal Khan Mandukhel said in a dissenting note that the Sunni Unity Council could not win even a single seat. The Sunni Ittehad Council has also not submitted the list of specific seats. The constitution has given the concept of proportional representation. The Supreme Court cannot add artificial words to the Constitution. Adding new words through interpretation of the constitution is like rewriting the constitution of Pakistan. The Election Commission misinterpreted the PTI intra-party election case verdict.
The issue of specific seats of the Sunni Unity Council is divided into 4 parts
An 8-member bench headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and comprising Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Athar Manullah, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Irfan Saadat Khan issued the majority verdict.
Justice Yahya Afridi gave his dissenting note separately.
Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa and Justice Jamal Khan Mandukhel gave separate dissenting notes.
Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Naeem Afghan gave separate dissenting notes.
PTI leaders chanting slogans
On the occasion of the pronouncement of the verdict, the leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf raised slogans in the premises of the Supreme Court while all the people present in the court room stood and listened to the verdict.
2 important consultation meetings before the decision
It should be remembered that after the decision was secured, a consultative meeting of 13 judges was held on Thursday under the chairmanship of Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faiz Isa, while the consultative meeting continued for more than an hour on Wednesday.
background
On February 28, 2024, a 5-member bench headed by the Chief Election Commissioner issued a unanimous written decision and declared that the Sunni Ittehad Council is not entitled to certain seats. 4 members decided to give the seats to other political parties. The dissenting note said that the seats should be kept vacant instead of sharing them among other political parties till the amendment of Article 51 and 106.
The Sunni Ittehad Council challenged the Election Commission’s decision in the Peshawar High Court. In March, a 5-member larger bench of the Peshawar High Court upheld the decision of the Election Commission and dismissed the appeal of the Sunni Unity Council.
Later in May, the matter reached the Supreme Court, where a 3-member bench headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Athar Minullah and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar suspended the decision of the Peshawar High Court and the Election Commission in the first hearing on May 6, 2024.
A 3-member bench of the Supreme Court referred the matter for the formation of a larger bench to the Practice and Procedure Committee while framing questions of constitutional and legal interpretation. In a committee meeting consisting of Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faiz Isa, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Muneeb Akhtar, a majority decision was taken to form a full court and then the 13-member full court after 6 long hearings completed the hearing on July 9 and reserved the decision. took
Friday
Importantly, there are several precedents in the past for such important decisions that were issued on Fridays. The decision to reinstate former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was pronounced by the Supreme Court on Friday, July 20, 2007. Similarly, the decision to disqualify former Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on imaginary salary in the Panama case was also pronounced on Friday, July 28, 2017. That the decision to declare PTI founder clean chit and Jahangir Khan disqualified on the charge of creating foreign properties was also pronounced on Friday, December 15, 2017.
