Pakistan’s top court judges question relief to Imran Khan’s party in reserved seats verdict

ISLAMABAD: Two Pakistani top court judges on Saturday questioned the majority verdict in a case involving parliamentary reserved seats, in which former prime minister Imran Khan’s political party was granted relief, saying the judgment had ignored “all rules of procedure.”
Justices Amin Uddin Khan and Naeem Akhtar Afghan, who were part of the Supreme Court bench that adjudicated the matter, diverged from the majority verdict in a short order before issuing a 29-page note detailing the legal reasons for their differing view.
The reserved seats case came up for hearing because Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party candidates had to contest the February 8 national polls as independents after being deprived of its symbol in a legal battle for not holding proper intraparty polls.
The PTI-backed candidates won the most seats, though the election commission ruled they were not entitled to reserved parliamentary seats for women and minorities, as these were meant only for political parties.
However, the apex court issued a different verdict on July 12, providing relief to Khan’s party.
“The majority judgment ignores all rules of procedure, substantive provisions of law and the Constitution,” the two judges wrote in their dissenting note.
The petitions for the seats were filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which the PTI-backed candidates had joined after winning the general seats since their party’s political identity was not recognized.
“Relief cannot be granted to the PTI as PTI was not before the Court nor tried to become a party before the ECP, High Court and before this Court nor was claiming the reserved seats, which were in issue in the instant litigation,” the dissenting note added.
The reserved seats for women and minorities in Pakistan’s national and provincial assemblies are to ensure greater political inclusion.
They are allocated to various political factions on a proportional basis after considering the number of general seats won by them during elections.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) refused to allocate these seats to PTI and SIC on technical grounds, instead distributing them among other parties mostly belonging to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition.
The government expressed its reservations over the Supreme Court’s majority verdict.
It has also been working on a parliamentary legislation to prevent its implementation in PTI’s favor.