The Supreme Court reserved its verdict on Tuesday regarding the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) appeal against the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) decision that upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) ruling denying them reserved seats.
A 13-member full court bench, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, heard the case. Representing Kanwal Shauzab was Barrister Salman Akram Raja, while Faisal Siddiqui presented arguments for the SIC.
The bench also included 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 Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
The issue of reserved seats arose after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independent candidates won the February 8 elections and joined the SIC to claim seats reserved for minorities and women. However, the ECP denied the allocation due to the party’s failure to submit its list of candidates.
The PTI then appealed to the PHC, which upheld the ECP’s decision. In response, the SIC sought to overturn the PHC verdict and secure 67 women and 11 minority seats in the assemblies through the Supreme Court.
This allocation is crucial as the PTI-backed independents, forming the majority of the opposition benches, lost 77 reserved seats in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies due to the PHC’s ruling.
Additionally, the PTI has filed a petition to become a party in the case, arguing that they and the SIC were prepared to submit a candidate list but were not permitted to do so.