Islamabad [Pakistan], June 30 : The Pakistan Supreme Court asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) why it excluded Imran Khan-founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from the general elections, thereby forfeiting its claim to reserved seats, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.
As a member of the full-court bench of the Supreme Court heard the Sunni Ittehad Council's (SIC) appeal against the denial of reserved seats for women and minorities, Justice Athar Minallah directed the ECP to satisfy the court that it provided a 'level playing field' to all political parties, "including PTI, before, during, and after the February 8 general elections."
The Pakistan SC will resume hearing the appeal on Monday.
In a four-page note, Justice Minallah observed that petitions pending before the apex court raising questions about the integrity of the February 8 polls should be heard alongside the SIC petitions. He directed the ECP to place on record the nature of complaints received prior to, during, and after the general elections and satisfy the apex court that each political party was treated in accordance with the Constitution's command, providing a level playing field to all.
Justice Minallah said the question of reserved seats could not be decided in isolation or based on technicalities and pleadings, adding that the larger issue involves the "fundamental democratic and constitutional rights of the real stakeholdersthe voters," Dawn reported.
He further stressed that it was the onerous duty of the apex court to ensure that no voter was disenfranchised and questions regarding the integrity of the electoral process were not ignored. He further added that the arguments advanced by the ECP's counsel had raised "grave questions" regarding the 'integrity' of the electoral process.
Pakistan's top court also observed that the exclusion of a major political party from the general elections by the ECP, on the basis of its flawed interpretation of the January 13 Supreme Court judgement, definitely had the consequence of "disenfranchisement of voters" and thus "deprivation of the reserved seats."
The legitimacy of governance, future policies, legislation, and public trust in representative institutions depend on the integrity of the electoral process and institutions. The ECP's alleged failure to discharge this duty would raise questions about fulfilling their constitutional obligation to conduct elections, it added.
Meanwhile, the Sunni Ittehad Council, which is fighting for the allotment of reserved seats before country's top court, highlighted that the ECP had in 2019 allocated reserved seats to the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) even though the party had not contested polls from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa nor submitted a list of candidates for reserved seats for women. The ECP applied different standards in allocating reserved seats to BAP in the KP Assembly in 2019, but took a discriminatory step by not allocating reserved seats for women and minorities to the SIC.
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