ISLAMABAD: As the reserved seat saga continues to grip the country’s political landscape, the Supreme Court has issued a separate note by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi directing the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to re-examine the notification of returned candidates. Reserved seats. A returned candidate who has declared himself to represent a political party, duly submitted a certificate of nomination and has not withdrawn his declaration by any written notice must be declared a returned candidate representing said political party, not otherwise, Justice Yahya’s Note originally dated August 13, 2024. The development comes a day after the apex court delivered a detailed judgment on its July 12 short order declaring Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) eligible for reserved seats. The 8-5 majority judgment was supported by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan. While Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail had a dissenting order supported by Justices Amin-ud-Din Khan and Naeem Akhtar Afghan – with the latter two issuing a dissenting note on August 3. The 70-page judgment penned by Justice Shah on Monday said the March 1 ECP had no legal value, rejecting the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) request for allotment of reserved seats and instead choosing to give them to other political parties. on the principle of proportional representation. In his remark, Justice Yahya went on to say that the returned candidates must be declared party members or otherwise within seven days after they “give an opportunity of being heard to any party concerned and therefore reserved seats for women and non-Muslims are to be allotted accordingly.” all to deserving political parties”.
