Supreme Court’s Justice Athar Minallah said Thursday that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) lacks the authority to kick out any party from the elections. “Election Commission does not have the authority to exclude any political party from [taking part in] elections,” Justice Minallah said as a 13-member full court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, heard the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) plea against the Peshawar High Court (PHC) verdict denying them reserved seats. The bench comprises Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan. During the hearing, Justice Muneeb questioned which party SIC Chief Hamid Raza associated himself with, whereas Justice Mandokhail inquired whether a candidate can change his party after withdrawing his nomination papers. Apprising the court of details regarding Raza’s documents and political affiliation, ECP’s lawyer Sikander Bashir noted that the document submitted by the SIC chief mentioned that he was associated with PTI-Nazriati (PTI-N), which in fact is a different political party altogether and is in no way linked to the PTI, the lawyer stressed. “Raza, on oath, said that he was associated with PTI-N,” Bashir said. However, the politician contested the polls as an independent candidate and didn’t submit the PTI-N ticket, but in fact, submitted a certificate showing his association with the PTI, the counsel added. Furthermore, CJP Isa inquired whether it is necessary to attach a certificate of affiliation to the party from which the election is to be contested. “It is necessary to show the candidate’s declaration and affiliation with the party,” responded the ECP’s lawyer, adding that a candidate is considered independent if the declaration and political affiliation do not match. However, the chief justice noted that there was no discrepancy in the certificate and the ECP was in fact changing the candidate’s status. “Why shouldn’t we consider [candidates] as belonging to the PTI?” CJP Isa said, highlighting that there are issues with the documents submitted by the ECP in the top court. Additionally, Justice Malik questioned why the ECP declared the candidates as independent when they were in fact declaring their association with a political party. Moreover, Justice Muneeb, while referring to the apex court’s earlier decision wherein it had upheld the ECP’s decision to revoke the PTI’s “bat” symbol, clarified that the SC had not intended to exclude the PTI from the polls. “You [ECP] conveniently said the candidates must be declared independent as [PTI] wasn’t allocated an election symbol […] how did you reach such a major decision?” Justice Muneeb said. “An independent candidate may also be allocated the ‘bat’ sign,” CJP Isa said, adding that the court cannot do anything if someone misinterprets their decision. The court then directed the electoral body to provide PTI’s list regarding reserved seats to other lawyers along with the certificates and declarations of the candidates. The case has been adjourned till July 1 next week.