Islamabad: The Supreme Court has convened a 13-member full-court bench to address a petition submitted by the Sunni Ittehad Council, contesting the Peshawar High Court’s ruling that dismissed the party’s claim to reserved seats for women and minorities, according to sources disclosed on Friday.
Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa will preside over the bench, comprising all available judges except Justice Musarrat Hilali, who is unable to participate due to a heart condition, as per the sources. The hearing is scheduled for June 3.
Earlier this month, a three-member SC bench led by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, alongside Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah, suspended the PHC verdict and referred the issue to a judges’ committee for the formation of a larger bench, emphasizing the need for constitutional interpretation.
In its written ruling, the court highlighted that the matter of allocating reserved seats in the National and provincial assemblies delves into the fundamental constitutional principle of parliamentary democracy, ensuring that the electorate’s voice is accurately represented in the assembly’s composition.
“The democratic mandate requires that the allocation of reserved seats enhances the electorate’s representation in the assemblies while maintaining fairness and transparency in the electoral process. Upholding the integrity of elections is crucial to ensuring that Parliament truly reflects the people’s will,” the court stated, granting leave to appeal.
The dispute reached the Supreme Court after the PHC rejected SIC’s plea regarding reserved seats.
In April, SIC leader Sahibzada Hamid Raza and the speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly lodged appeals in the apex court against the PHC judgment, seeking allocation of 67 women and 11 minority seats in the assemblies for the party, along with the annulment of the high court’s ruling.
Following the general elections on February 8, the Election Commission of Pakistan decided against allocating reserved seats for women and minorities to the SIC as they had not submitted their candidate list for those seats.
This decision was upheld by the PHC, but subsequently suspended by the Supreme Court.
Following the SC’s decision, the ECP suspended the victory notifications of 77 lawmakers elected on reserved seats denied to the SIC.
Led by Hamid Raza, the SIC gained prominence after PTI-backed candidates who won in the February 8 polls joined the party, having been stripped of their electoral symbol ‘bat’.
However, PTI’s attempt to claim the reserved seats was blocked in March when the commission ruled that the SIC was ineligible for reserved seat quotas “due to irreparable legal defects and violation of mandatory provisions regarding submission of party lists for reserved seats”.
The commission not only withheld reserved seats from the SIC but also redistributed them among other parties.
