Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said that the Supreme Court’s verdict in favour of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on reserved seats case does not jeopardies the government’s position.
The minister’s remarks came after the top court announced its reserved verdict on the petition filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), ruling PTI as an eligible party for the allocation of reserved seats, but not the SIC.
“We still have a majority of 209 members and the verdict has not been completed yet,” said Tarar. The law minister also said that he was unsure whether the government will file review petition challenging the verdict or not.
The development comes after the SC announced 8-5 majority verdict, nullifying 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.
The verdict was supported by Justices Athar Minallah, Shahid Waheed, Muneeb Akhtar, Muhammad Ali Mazhar Ayesha Malik, Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, and Irfan Saadat Khan.
The PTI candidates did not contest the polls on a single elction symbol, forcing them to join hands with the SIC, but that could not get them the reserved seats as the ECP ruled against them.
In its decision today, the court declared that the lack or denial of an election symbol does not in any manner affect the Constitutional or legal rights of a political party to participate in an election, whether general or by, and to field candidates and that the commission is under a Constitutional duty to apply all statutory provisions accordingly.
“PTI was and is a political party, which secured general seats in the national and provincial assemblies in the general elections of 2024,” read the verdict.
The court ordered the Imran Khan founded party to present a list of names the candidates eligible for the reserved seats within 15 days of this decision. “Reserved seats in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh should be given to PTI,” it said.
Terming the verdict “interesting”, Tarar, while speaking during a press conference, said the SIC had claimed for the reserved seats and not the PTI.
“There was no mention of PTI in the PHC verdict and the law says that no judgment can be given against someone without hearing them,” said Tarar.
He pointed out that the majority of the parties were not present in the court yet the verdict was announced against them.
Tarar further said that 80 candidates had never claimed in the SC that they belonged to the PTI and why they had to join the SIC. “These 80 candidates said that they belonged to SIC,” he said.
“There are constitutional and legal flaws in this verdict that will remain under discussion,” said the law minister.