Additional note: Justice Yahya says PTI didn’t raise seats issue before SC

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court judge, Justice Yahya Afridi, also issued his additional note in the case of reserved seats for women and minorities, ordering the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to issue a sufficient order to allot reserved seats for women and minorities within seven days after hearing the parties’ position.

The judge, as a member of 13-judge full court, directed that in all fairness, without disturbing the impugned judgment, the ECP should revisit its notification of returned candidates, keeping in view that a returned candidate, who declared himself to represent a political party and submitted the certificate of that political party, nominating the said candidate to be its official candidate for election for the respective constituency and had not withdrawn his declaration by any written intimation, had to be declared a returned candidate representing the said political party and not otherwise.

“The needful be done within seven days, if not earlier, after providing an opportunity of hearing to any affected party and, thus, the reserved seats for woman and non-Muslims are to be allotted to all deserving political parties, accordingly,” Justice Afridi held.

Consequently, the judge dismissed civil appeals, filed by the SIC and its chairman, adding that these appeals had been dismissed on merits. The judge also dismissed the connected civil petitions, challenging the impugned judgment.

The judge dismissed the petition of Sunni Ittehad Council by holding that the SIC did not fulfil the conditions prescribed for a political party under the enabling provisions of the Constitution and the law to be allocated reserved seats for women and minorities in the National and provincial assemblies.

Justice Afridi held that the PTI is a political party, it fielded its candidates for seats in the National and provincial assemblies in the general election and yet, for reasons not known, the matter had not been agitated by the PTI before the court.

In fact, Justice Afridi noted that at the very end of the proceedings of the present appeals that spanned over a month with eight long hearings commenced from the June 3, 2024 to July 12, 2024 to be precise on June 26, 2024, an application was filed by the PTI and Barrister Gohar Ali Khan for impleadment as interveners and that too to assist this court in the present appeals. “Interestingly, there was no specific prayer for a definite declaration in favour of the PTI for allotment of reserved seats for women and non-Muslims,” the judge noted.