Reserved seats verdict: No notices to parties on ECP plea: SC deputy registrar

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) deputy registrar has informed the Registrar office that notices were not issued on the application of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), seeking guidance of the apex court regarding judgment of July 12 on the reserved seats.

The deputy registrar, in his letter written to the SC Registrar office on Sept 14, informed about the clarification, issued by the apex court of its July-12 order, passed in the matter related to the reserved seats.

“I bring it to your kind notice that a news is floating on the media that the Supreme Court of Pakistan has issued a clarification of its order dated July 12, 2024, passed in CA No. 333/2024 (Election-National Assembly/Reserved seats),” says the letter.

The deputy registrar, however, stated that neither a cause list was issued, nor notices were issued to the parties by the office and the order had still not been received in office till 8pm and was uploaded on the website.

On Sept 14, the Supreme Court had directed the ECP to implement in letter and spirit its judgment delivered on July 12 on reserved seats with the warning that refusal by the electoral body to perform legally binding obligation may result in serious consequences.

The eight-member majority judges in chambers had issued order on the plea of the Election Commission of Pakistan, seeking guidance on the point that in the absence of a valid organisational structure of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), who would confirm the political affiliation of the returned candidates (MNAs and MPAs) on behalf of the PTI, who filed their statements in the light of the Supreme Court Order dated 12 July 2024.

The eight judges included Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah Justice Munib Akhtar Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan.

“The continued failure of, and refusal by, the Commission to perform this legally binding obligation may have consequences,” the 4-page order, uploaded on the SC website had stated. Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Monday had a consultative meeting on the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s recent order in response to its request for clarification on the apex court’s judgment in the reserved seats case.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja presided over the meeting, which was attended by the ECP members and the commission secretary. The meeting will continue after the Tuesday holiday, it was learnt.

The forum was given briefing by the ECP legal team and it was later decided to continue the consultation process. On September 14, in the case of reserved seats, the majority bench of the Supreme Court issued a clarification order, in which it was said that in the light of the decision, those who submitted the party certificate are the successful candidates of PTI, while the Election Commission should implement the decision immediately.

The apex court had issued a written order on the clarification request of the Election Commission regarding specific seats. It noted that the Election Commission had approached the Supreme Court for clarification regarding 41 members as the Election Commission’s clarification request was an attempt to create confusion and delay the implementation of its order.

In the Supreme Court’s ‘explanatory order’, it has been said that the Election Commission itself recognised Barrister Gohar Ali Khan as the party chairman. However, the ECP in its reaction to the four-page SC order, maintained it had not recognised Gohar as the party chairman, as the case of PTI intra-party was pending before it.

It was learnt that the matter was thoroughly discussed in the ECP meeting on Monday for which the chief election commissioner had cancelled his visit to Layyah. The legal wing has sought some time to give its opinion.

But it was contended that the Election Commission had no choice but to implement the Supreme Court order. And it was quite likely that the remaining PTI legislators will be notified as per the Supreme Court verdict Wednesday.

However, the meeting noted that as per the recently passed the Election (Second Amendment) Bill 2024, there was a bar on independents from joining a political party at a subsequent stage after the period specified for the purpose in the law, besides restraining political parties from submitting priority list of their candidates for reserved seats after the passage of stipulated timeline.