PTI WINS | Reserved seats should be given to PTI: Supreme Court | Big News
PTI WINS | Reserved seats should be given to PTI: Supreme Court | Big News
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00:00For the reasons to be recorded later, we dispose of these appeals, petitions and miscellaneous
00:06applications through a short order as under. These matters involve a controversy regarding
00:13the allocation of seats reserved for women and non-Muslims. The Sunni Ijtihad Council, SIC,
00:22did not contest the general elections of the year 2024. SIC, which demands allocation of
00:30reserve seats on account of inclusion of independent parliamentarians in it, did not
00:36secure a single seat in the National Assembly or any of the provincial assemblies, nor submitted
00:43a list of its candidates for seats reserved for women and non-Muslims. Thus, it is not entitled
00:51to any of the reserved seats either in the National Assembly or in the provincial assemblies.
00:57The impugned judgement and order dated 1st March 2024 of the Election Commission of Pakistan,
01:04hereinafter ECP, to such extent is upheld. Under Article 51 within Bracket 3 of the Constitution
01:13of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the total number of seats in the National Assembly
01:19shall be 326, out of which 60 seats are reserved for women and 10 seats for non-Muslims.
01:28Such a right of women and non-Muslims has been guaranteed by the Constitution.
01:34They shall be elected in accordance with law through proportional representation system
01:39of political parties' list of candidates on the basis of total number of general seats
01:46secured by each political party from the province concerned in the National Assembly
01:51and the provincial assemblies, as provided by Article 51 within Bracket 6,
01:58clauses D and E of the Constitution. Therefore, they cannot be deprived of their such right by
02:04leaving. These seats weakened and all reserved seats shall be filled in as provided by Article
02:12224.6 of the Constitution. The impugned judgement of the High Court and the said
02:19order of the ECP to the extent of proportional representation distribution of seats amongst the
02:25parties which won and secured seats is also maintained. However, since the ECP calculated
02:33and allocated the seats to the parties by the exclusion of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf
02:39PTI candidates, therefore, to such extent the impugned judgement of the High Court and the
02:45order of the ECP are set aside. During the hearing, it transpired that a number of candidates had
02:52submitted their nomination papers with a declaration on oath that they belonged to PTI,
02:58supported by an affiliation certificate of the said party. But some did not submit affiliation
03:03certificates of PTI. They are members of national and respective provincial assemblies affiliated
03:09with PTI. The ECP, by misinterpreting the judgement of this court dated 13 January 2024,
03:17which was regarding non-holding intra-party elections in PTI, wrongly mentioned the said
03:24candidates of the PTI as independents in Form 33 of the election rules. The ECP had no authority
03:33to declare validly nominated candidates of a political party to be independent candidates.
03:40Similarly, a candidate once declared himself or herself as a candidate of a political party
03:47could not subsequently resile from his candidature of a particular party after the last date of
03:52withdrawal of the nomination papers. It is important to mention here that neither the PTI
03:58nor any candidate affiliated with PTI approached either this court before or during the hearing of
04:05these proceedings or the High Court to challenge the decision of the ECP, declaring them as
04:12independents. However, in view of the fact that the appeal and the petition are a continuation
04:19of election proceedings before the ECP, we can look into the varies of the decision of the ECP
04:26in the light of the provisions of Article 51D and E of the Constitution, read with Sections 66,
04:3367 and 104 of the Elections Act 2017, to safeguard the interests of women and non-Muslims.
04:42As a consequence whereof, the candidates who had submitted the nomination papers and or affiliation
04:48certificates by the last date of withdrawal of the nomination papers declaring that they
04:54belong to PTI and had not filed a document showing affiliation with another political
05:00party should have been treated as the parliamentary party of PTI,
05:06but needful was not done by the ECP. Consequently, the PTI as a parliamentary party is entitled to
05:14the reserve seats to such extent that ECP should recalculate and reallocate the reserve seat
05:22amongst the political parties including the PTI as provided by Article 51, 6D and E of the
05:28Constitution. The candidates who had submitted the nomination papers by 24 December 2023,
05:35which was the last date of submission of nomination papers and had declared themselves
05:39either as the independent candidates or left blank the relevant column in the nomination
05:43papers declaration and were elected shall be considered to be independents. SIC is a registered
05:50political party and every independent member of parliament and the provincial assemblies has a
05:56right to join it. All those who joined SIC are presumed to have done so out of their own free
06:01will. None of them claim to have joined SIC because of any misunderstanding of any judgment,
06:08the law, compulsion, coercion or undue influence and it is not for this court to presume otherwise.
06:17We must ensure that words are not read into the constitution nor to ascribe artificial meaning
06:25to commonly understood words. We must also abide by validly enacted laws and must not do anything
06:33either to hinder or to facilitate a political party by ignoring the law's mandate.
06:39I think this concludes today's proceedings. Thank you everyone.