Pakistan SC to announce reserved seats case verdict on July 12

Islamabad: Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday deferred till July 12 the judgment on a petition filed by the opposition Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) about getting its due share in the reserved seats in Parliament and provincial assemblies.

A 13-member bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa heard the plea filed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed SIC challenging the decision of the Peshawar High Court upholding the Election Commission's move to deny it share in reserved seats in the assemblies.

The petition was filed after the top electoral body rejected the SIC's plea for awarding its share in the 70 reserved seats in the National Assembly and another 156 in the four provincial assemblies.

On Thursday, Chief Justice Isa announced that the panel decided to reserve the verdict for mutual consultation.

Now, the cause list of cases issued by the court following the consultative meetings said a regular bench of three judges led by Chief Justice Isa will announce the short ruling on Friday, July 12.

The SIC held a large protest outside the court ahead of the verdict on Thursday.

The SIC rose to prominence after 71-year-old Khan's party-supported candidates joined it after winning the elections, as the PTI could not contest the polls and was not eligible to claim the seats reserved for women and minorities.

The seats were awarded to the winning parties based on proportional representation.

Just before the general election, the PTI was deprived of its iconic cricket 'bat' symbol by the election commission (ECP) for failure to hold the intra-party election according to its constitution, forcing it to field its candidates as independents.

The winning PTI candidates joined the SIC to secure a due share in the reserved seats.

However, the ECP rejected the SIC plea for reserved seats as it had not contested the elections and got strength when PTI-backed independently elected candidates joined the party after the elections.

Its appeal against the ECP decision in the PHC was also turned down. Subsequently, the party challenged it in the Supreme Court.

On May 6, in a major relief to the PTI, the Supreme Court suspended the PHC's decision about rejecting the SIC plea.

Following the ruling, the ECP on May 14 suspended the victory notifications of 77 candidates who belonged to other parties and were declared successful on the reserved seats.

The final ruling by the top court in the case would decide the fate of those 77 reserved seats. Though it may not change the current power structure, the changes in the overall number game in the assemblies may impact the law-making process in the country.