Islamabad:
A constitutional bench (CB) of the Supreme Court refused on Thursday the request of one of the PTI councils to postpone the hearing of the case of seats reserved until August, noting that the bench intended to hear the case daily.
Earlier, Salman Akram Raja resumed his arguments in support of the majority order of July 12, 2024 of a complete bench of SC. He referred to the judgment of the SC in the case of the bar of the High Court of the Sindh, which, he said, serves as an example of the way in which the SC can intervene for the restoration of the Constitution.
“After the emergency imposed on November 3, 2007, several measures were taken, but the Supreme Court said that the unconstitutional emergency, and all the measures taken at its consequences were also canceled.”
“The court had ruled that the judges appointed after the emergency did not hold any legitimate status and that their referral to the judges in office was also declared illegal; the judges withdrawn have been reinstated.”
During the hearing, Raja also referred to the allocation of seats reserved during the general elections of 2013, 2018 and 2024. He declared that the file shows that during the previous elections, the political party which won general seats had received reserved seats in the same proportion.
“However, the situation is different during the recent general elections. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a party [PTI] This provided 83% of the general seats was awarded to zero reserve seats, “he said.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail asked Raja on how the Supreme Court can prevent any politician from challenging the elections independently.
“Suppose Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif, Asif Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto or Maulana Fazlur Rehman – of the main party leaders – decide to challenge independently, how to prevent them?” He asked.
Judge Musarrat Hilali said that the loss of an electoral symbol does not mean that the political party’s registration is canceled. PTI candidates joined the Sunni Ittehad (sic) council, but that the SIC was not present in Parliament, she said.
Judge Mandokhail noted that Raja quoted the Association of the bar of the High Court of the Sindh, but in this case, the facts were undisputed.
Judge Hasan Azhar Rizvi said that in the non-party elections in 1985, a political party was called the “AWAM Dost” party. “Did you present such a term [for the PTI for the polls]”The lawyer replied that the PTI introduced the term” Kaptaan Ka Sipahi “.
Judge Muhammad Ali Mazhar observed that there seemed to be a lack of coordination within the PTI. Judge Mandokhail added that it seemed that the 39 members of the Assembly openly declared their affiliation with the PTI were more sensitive. “” Either they were more judicious – or they had higher tolerance for pressure, “said Judge Hilali.
Recalling previous political events, SIC lawyer Hamid Khan said that the decision in the intra-party electoral case had been announced on the very last day for the allocation of electoral symbols.
“It was a Saturday – vacation – but the matter was heard until 11 pm that evening. Our candidates continued to wait, wondering what would be the verdict. At midnight, our electoral symbol was removed, and the deadline for the allocation of symbols went. After that, where did we stay?
He said that the ECP gave the ANP more time despite the fact that the ANP had not even held an elections “that we had made elections, but the ECP did not accept them. We exhorted it to amend ourselves, if necessary, but it stripped us of our electoral symbol. The same day, the ANP and the PTI were treated differently,” he said.
Judge Muhammad Ali Mazhar replied that the ANP had had the opportunity for the first time when the PTI had already received several years. “Your party constitution has been made more infallible-we can even say that it is better than the others,” he noted
Hamid Khan pointed out that he seemed that the PTI had been punished for writing a better constitution. The CB also rejected Hamid Khan’s request to postpone the case until August. The court will resume a hearing at 9:30 a.m. today.
On January 13, 2024, a bench of SC of three members confirmed the electoral commission of the Pakistan Electoral Commission (ECP) on December 22, 2023 declaring the intra-party polls of the PTI Nul and non-Avenus.
Consequently of the verdict of the SC and its misinterpretation by the ECP, the candidates of the PTI had to contest the general elections of February 8, 2024 as independents.
Eighty independent candidates reached the National Assembly and then joined the SIC in an apparent offer to demand seats reserved for women and minorities. The ECP, however, refused to allocate the seats to the party, a decision that the SIC challenged before the Supreme Court.
