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#Pakistan #SupremeCourt #parliament
The Supreme Court Of Pakistan on Monday released its detailed verdict on the July 12 order in the reserved seats case, which had declared the PTI a parliamentary party.
Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had announced the majority verdict, which was supported by seven other judges: Justices Munib Akhtar, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha A. Malik, Athar Minallah, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Shahid Waheed and Irfan Saadat Khan.
The case had been heard by a 13-member bench - Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail had penned a minority judgment; Justices Aminuddin Khan and Naeem Akhtar Afghan in their ruling had rejected the pleas for reserved seats; and Justice Yahya Afridi had ordered the electoral watchdog to decide the matter.
The 8-5 majority July order had declared ex-premier Imran Khan’s PTI eligible for seats reserved for women and minorities, dealing a major setback to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition.
The eight judges had ruled that out of a list of 80 MNAs, 39 belonged to the PTI, and gave 41 others the chance to resubmit their party affiliation. Despite the 8-5 split, 11 out of the 13 judges had declared the PTI a parliamentary party.
The 70-page judgment released today, available on the SC’s website, was authored by Justice Shah, who is set to succeed incumbent CJP Isa as the top judge in October.
The verdict states: “When election authorities engage in actions […] such as unlawfully denying the recognition of a major political party and treating its nominated candidates as independents, they not only compromise the rights of these candidates but also significantly infringe upon the rights of the electorate and corrode their own institutional legitimacy.”
“The importance of free and fair elections in a democracy cannot be overstated. The judiciary’s role in ensuring electoral integrity and upholding the will of the people is essential for sustaining public trust in the democratic process,” the order read.
The SC asserted that the “court’s power to do ‘complete justice’ is a critical tool in preventing democratic backsliding and protecting democracy effectively”.
The eight-judge order also expressed “some doubts” about whether the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had the “power to reject the certificate of intra-party elections submitted by a political party under Section 209, and whether the Commission exercised its discretion under Section 215(5) justly, fairly and reasonably in PTI’s case”, emphasising that the “fundamental right of citizens to vote for the political party of their choice was at stake”.
“Similarly, we have certain reservations about how the matter of intraparty elections - a matter of internal governance of party - can trump the fundamental rights of citizens to vote and of political parties to effectively participate in and contest elections through obtaining a common symbol for their candidates, guaranteed under Articles 17(2) and 19 of the Constitution.
“However, since these questions are sub judice in the review petition filed by PTI against this Court’s judgment dated 13 January 2024, we abstain from examining and expressing our definitive view on them,” the verdict said, referring to the SC ruling denying the PTI its party symbol.
The verdict stated that Justice Mazhar wished to “make clear that nothing in this paragraph is intended to or will impact upon the hearing of the review petition”.
Furthermore, the judges stated that their clarification dated September 14, passed on the ECP’s application, “shall also be read as part of this judgment”. The clarification had rebuked the ECP for its “adoption of dilatory tactics […] to delay, defeat and obstruct implementation” of the SC ruling.
ECP’s ‘unlawful acts’ caused prejudice to PTI, electorate
In its majority verdict, the SC also observed that the returning officers (ROs) and the ECP’s numerous “unlawful acts and omissions” had “caused confusion and prejudice to PTI, its candidates and the electorate who voted for PTI.
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