Round and round we go

The ongoing controversy surrounding the Supreme Court’s ruling on reserved seats for the PTI seems to have no end in sight. Despite two clarifications from the apex court, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the government remain reluctant to implement the court’s verdict, leaving many questioning the motives behind this persistent delay. At the heart of this saga lies the Supreme Court’s July 12 ruling, which declared the PTI eligible for the allocation of reserved seats in parliament. This decision was meant to resolve the issue of the PTI’s status following the elections. However, instead of bringing closure, it has only deepened the political rift. Last month, the ECP had approached the Supreme Court for a clarification, leading to the court’s stern rebuke on September 14 in which it accused the ECP of trying to create confusion and obstruct the implementation of its decision. The court’s message was clear: its verdict was final and binding, and there should be no room for further debate. But despite this, the ECP and the government have continued to drag their feet.

The government, for its part, has made no secret of its discomfort with the court’s ruling, citing the passage of the Election (Second Amendment) Act, 2024, as a reason to disregard the court’s decision. However, legal experts argue that this amendment has no retrospective effect and cannot nullify a Supreme Court ruling. The government’s resistance to implementing the verdict seems more a matter of political manoeuvring than genuine legal uncertainty. Observers suggest that the government’s reluctance stems from a desire to retain the reserved seats for itself rather than allowing them to go to the PTI. The court’s decision, in the government’s eyes, may have provided the PTI with ‘extraordinary relief’, especially since the former ruling party was not even the original petitioner in the case. But this reasoning is unconvincing to those who believe in the sanctity of the judiciary’s decisions. The detailed verdict from the Supreme Court was clear, and yet the ECP’s failure to act raises serious questions about rule of law in the country.

The Supreme Court, in response to the ongoing stalemate, issued yet another clarification yesterday, reaffirming that its ruling must be implemented. Despite this, the ECP has shown no signs of moving forward with the allocation of seats. There is also the lingering question of why the Supreme Court felt the need to issue a second clarification, with critics raising the eternal question of the ‘timing’ of the clarification much like the court’s earlier clarification on September 14, which came just before crucial constitutional amendments were to be tabled in parliament.

This impasse between the judiciary, the ECP, and the government needs to be resolved, and it needs to be resolved now. The more time is wasted in this back-and-forth, the more the public’s faith in democratic institutions erodes. The Supreme Court has made its decision clear; the ECP and the government must respect that. If there are genuine legal concerns, they must be addressed through proper channels, not through delaying tactics or political posturing. When court rulings are ignored or delayed for political reasons, it undermines the very foundation of democracy and rule of law. Pakistan cannot afford to let its democratic processes be held hostage by political and institutional infighting any longer.