Reserved seats: Govt asks SC to dismiss appeals against PHC verdict

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Wednesday requested the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeals of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and others challenging the Peshawar High Court (PHC) judgement denying the party reserved seats for women and minorities in the National and provincial assemblies.

A 13-member full court, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, would resume hearing today (Thursday) in the appeals filed by the SIC and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly Speaker challenging the PHC verdict.

Attorney General (AG) Mansoor Usman Awan on Wednesday submitted his written synopsis in the apex court and prayed the court the titled and connected appeals may be dismissed and the PHC judgement upheld. “Any other appropriate order which this Court deems fit, under the facts and circumstances of the instant matter, may also very kindly be passed,” the AG submitted.

The AG submitted that reserved seats for women and non-Muslims cannot be allocated except to political parties which contest general elections, have at least one returned candidate, and have furnished a separate list of candidates with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). For the allocation of reserved seats, the AG submitted, the prescribed formula must be used to calculate the threshold of general seats required to be secured to entitle a political party to each reserved seat. Furthermore, independent candidates could not automatically become relevant for reserved seats under a parties’ list system unless they join a political party.

“Independently elected candidates are counted towards reserved seats for women and non-Muslims only when they join political parties within 3 days of publication of names of the returned candidates in the official Gazette” under Articles 51(6)(d) and (e), as well as 106(3)(c), the AGP’s response read.

The SIC neither contested the general elections as a political party nor filed any list of candidates for reserved seats for women and non-Muslims, under Section 104 of the Election Act, 2017, it further stated. Subsequently, the aforesaid party did not present its manifesto before the February 8 nationwide polls and its candidates to the voters for their scrutiny. “The SIC cannot be permitted to use the backdoor to make its way into the assemblies. Allowing so will set a very dangerous precedent,” the AG said.

“It will permit elements who would otherwise be rejected by the voters to make their way into the assemblies by encouraging independents’ getting elected or luring them to join such parties and benefitting from the allocation of reserved seats.”

The attorney general said that the approval of the SIC’s appeal would be an “antithesis to democracy” and “will weaken the political parties who participate in the electoral process”. It further elaborated that the reserved seats for women and non-Muslims would only be allocated to political parties whereas, independently elected candidates or those parties who have not contested the polls would not be considered for the seats.

Further elaborating, the AG submitted that independent returned candidates can only join such political party which has a parliamentary party in a House, as required under Article 63A(2) of the Constitution. The AG submitted that Article 63A(2) mandates that an independent member can only become a member of a parliamentary party of such political party whose, at least one, candidate or nominee won in the elections prior to such joining and constitutes a parliamentary party in a House, adding that no candidate or nominee of the SIC, including its chairman, got elected to any House.

Therefore, the SIC did not have a parliamentary party in any House after the general elections, the AG contended. He submitted that any other interpretation of Articles 51(6)(d)(e) and 106(3)(c) will make Article 63A unworkable and will inevitably create a situation where the independent returned candidates will become members of the SIC but not members of any parliamentary party. “Their status within the House will necessarily be that of an independent member,” the AG submitted.