DNA
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said that the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) reserved seats case does not pose any threat to the government.
“We still have a majority of 209 members and the verdict has not been completed yet,” said the minister after the top court ruled that the PTI was eligible for the allocation of reserved seats.
Tarar said that he was unsure whether the government will file review petition challenging the verdict or not.
The development comes after the SC announced 8-5 majority verdict, nullifying the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) order wherein it had upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision denying the reserved seats to the SIC.
The verdict was supported by Justices Athar Minallah, Shahid Waheed, Muneeb Akhtar, Muhammad Ali Mazhar Ayesha Malik, Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, and Irfan Saadat Khan.
The PTI candidates did not contest the polls on a single elction symbol, forcing them to join hands with the SIC, but that could not get them the reserved seats as the ECP ruled against them.
In its decision today, the court declared that the lack or denial of an election symbol does not in any manner affect the Constitutional or legal rights of a political party to participate in an election, whether general or by, and to field candidates and that the commission is under a Constitutional duty to apply all statutory provisions accordingly.
“PTI was and is a political party, which secured general seats in the national and provincial assemblies in the general elections of 2024,” read the verdict.
The court ordered the Imran Khan founded party to present a list of names the candidates eligible for the reserved seats within 15 days of this decision. “Reserved seats in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh should be given to PTI,” it said.
