On Tuesday, Chief Justice of Pakistan, Qazi Faez Isa, stated that conducting intra-party polls would have settled all disputes, referring to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
During the 13-member full court bench hearing, the discussion centred on the Sunni Ittehad Council’s petition. This group, allied with PTI, disputes the denial of reserved seats.
The bench, led by Chief Justice Isa, includes Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Munib Akhtar.
Previously, PTI aligned with SIC for the February 8 elections following the Election Commission’s removal of PTI’s electoral symbol, a decision upheld by the apex court.
Nevertheless, the commission denied SIC reserved seats due to unsubmitted candidate lists, prompting an appeal to the Peshawar High Court (PHC), which sustained the commission’s decision.
In April, SIC chief Sahibzada Hamid Raza and others petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the PHC ruling and allocate 67 women’s and 11 minority seats.
On May 6, a smaller bench, led by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, suspended the PHC ruling and escalated the issue for further review.
During today’s hearing, SIC’s lawyer, Advocate Faisal Siddiqui, argued that SIC had participated in elections through independent candidates, although the ECP rejected their candidate list.
Chief Justice Isa underscored that SIC had been twice recognized as a parliamentary party.
Advocate Siddiqui responded, emphasizing constitutional distinctions between party types.
Addressing an argument about the apex court’s previous verdict, Chief Justice Isa remarked that intra-party polls by PTI would have precluded the current seat allocation issue.
Justice Akhtar noted that candidates associated with PTI had participated and won as independents, questioning how they could be considered independent by ECP’s law.
The hearing is set to continue on June 24.
