PPPP files review plea with SC against July 12 judgment

Petitioner submitted that SIC and PTI were two separate political parties and two separate entities

By Sohail Khan
July 24, 2024
The Supreme Court building in Islamabad. — SC website/File
The Supreme Court building in Islamabad. — SC website/File

ISLAMABAD: Followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) Tuesday filed a review petition with the Supreme Court against its July 12 judgment declaring the PT1 eligible for the reserved seats of women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies.

The review petition was filed under Article 188 of the Constitution, making the Sunni Ittehad Council Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Muslim League (N) and others as respondents.

Filed through Farooq H Naik, it prayed the apex court that the instant review petition may be accepted and the short order dated 12.07.2024 passed in C.A.No.334 of 2024 by the apex court may be reviewed and recalled. The PPPP further prayed that the operation of the short order dated 12.07.2024 passed in C.A.No.334 of 2024 by this court may be stayed/suspended.

The petitioner submitted that the SIC and PTI were two separate political parties and two separate entities.

“The order under review, it seems has treated them as one party with different names which cannot be permissible under the law,” the petitioner contended and reiterated that the PTI neither filed any case with the ECP nor the Peshawar High Court and Supreme Court, hence it was not entitled to any relief, let alone a relief which was not even pleaded.

The PPPP further submitted that the order under review had not taken into account that 80 MNAs had filed their nomination papers as independent candidates and then as independent candidates joined the SIC. “None has even come forward to state otherwise; therefore, the assumption in the order under review that the said MNAs are PTI candidates is with respect liable to be reviewed,” the PPPP submitted.

It further submitted that all the returned candidates had already joined the SIC and hence there was no question of giving them the option of joining the PTI, that too after many months of the election.