Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has initiated a legal challenge against the Election Commission by filing a contempt of court petition in the Supreme Court concerning the allocation of reserved seats.
PTI’s Secretary General, Salman Akram Raja, filed the petition, which includes members of the Election Commission as respondents.
The petition appeals to the Supreme Court to mandate immediate implementation of its decision by the Election Commission and to commence contempt proceedings against the commission’s members.
This legal action follows a ruling on July 12, where the Supreme Court overturned the decisions made by the Peshawar High Court and the Election Commission regarding the reserved seats case involving the Sunni Tehreek Council, affirming PTI’s entitlement to these seats.
On March 14, a five-member bench of the Peshawar High Court unanimously rejected a petition challenging the non-allocation of reserved seats to the Sunni Tehreek Council.
Read: PTI Joins Judicial Commission of Pakistan
The controversy deepened when a 13-member full bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa declared the Election Commission’s decision unconstitutional, with Justice Mansoor Ali Shah penned the judgment.
Despite opposition from justices, including Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the majority bench issued clarifications twice without a hearing, following a clarification request from the Election Commission regarding the majority decision.
This sequence of events culminated in former Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa expressing dissatisfaction shortly before his retirement over the second clarification issued by the majority bench. He demanded an explanation from Supreme Court staff regarding the clarification, which asserted that the amendments to the Election Act 2017 do not annul the Supreme Court’s decision dated July 12.
