In a major legal victory for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan overturned the denial of reserved seats to the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah announced the 8-5 majority verdict on a petition filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), an ally of the PTI.
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Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Shahid Waheed, Muneeb Akhtar, Muhammad Ali Mazhar Ayesha Malik, Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi and Irfan Saadat Khan ruled in favour of the PTI.
The top court nullified the Peshawar High Court’s order wherein it had upheld the ECP’s decision denying the reserved seats to the SIC.
In its order, the apex court said that the Election Commission of Pakistan ECP’s decision of allocating reserved seats to the ruling coalition was unconstitutional.
The bench accepted SIC’s petition and ruled that the party is eligible for the allocation of reserved seats. The apex court accepted PTI as political party and asked Imran Khan-led party to submit reserved seats candidates list to ECP within 15 days.
“Candidates of the PTI cannot be declared independent candidates, nor representatives of any other party,” the verdict said adding that the ECP had incorrectly declared members of PTI as independents.
The court had reserved its verdict on Tuesday after closing the hearing on a set of appeals moved by the SIC.
The full bench-led by CJP ISA, also comprises Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
