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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Peshawar High Court (PHC) verdict on the issue of the allocation of Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) reserved seats to other parties on Monday.
According to the details, a three-member bench headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah heard the appeal filed in the Supreme Court for the reserved seats of SIC.
Lawyer Faisal Siddiqui appeared before the court today as the SIC counsel, while Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan and an ECP official were also summoned during the hearing.
On behalf of the federal government, the Additional Attorney General said that only the larger bench could hear the appeals, but the court rejected the objection on the bench.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah fixed the case for hearing and “we are suspending the ECP and PHC verdicts.” Justice Mansoor Shah said that today’s suspension verdict only applies to the allocation of additional seats. He emphasized that the people’s mandate should be represented correctly in Parliament.
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Apart from that, SIC counsel Faisal Siddiqui, while opening arguments, informed the court that the independent winning MNAs of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had joined the SIC, on which Justice Mansoor Ali Shah asked whether the seven candidates are still part of it? National Assembly in independent status
Justice Athar Minallah observed that a political party can still contest elections even if it loses its electoral symbol.
Later, the Supreme Court adjourned the hearing of the case till 11:30 by calling the officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) immediately along with the records.
In a 4-1 verdict in March, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had ruled that the SIC was not entitled to claim quota for reserved seats “due to having non-curable legal defects and violation of a mandatory provision of submission of party list for reserved seats”.
Peshawar High Court (PHC) dismissed petitions of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) over reserved seats in assemblies. A five-member bench of the high court gave the unanimous decision on the petition as Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim read the reserved verdict.
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