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ISLAMABAD, Jun 27 (APP): The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan has dismissed the plea seeking reserved parliamentary seats for the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), backed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and upheld the earlier decision of the Peshawar High Court, which had ordered that the seats be distributed among other parliamentary parties.
The Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench, headed by Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, conducted 17 hearings on the high-profile case involving reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies.
Other members of the bench included Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Mussarat Hilali, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, Justice Salahuddin Panhwar, Justice Aamer Farooq, and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi.
During Friday’s hearing, Justice Salahuddin Panhwar recused himself from the bench after senior counsel Hamid Khan, representing the SIC, raised objections on the constitution of the Bench. The court, however, continued the proceedings and announced a short order later in the evening.
In a 7-3 majority decision, the court overturned its previous judgment dated July 12, 2024, which had granted PTI the right to claim reserved seats in Parliament through its affiliation with the SIC. The latest decision reinstates the Peshawar High Court’s ruling that the reserved seats be allocated among other eligible parliamentary parties.
The Court accepted review petitions filed against the July 2024 ruling and directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to rehear the applications of affected members accordingly.
The majority opinion was authored by Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, and supported by Justice Mussarat Hilali, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, Justice Hashim Kakar, Justice Aamer Farooq, and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi.