Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa has questioned as to why former President Arif Alvi had not set a date for elections on behalf of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf despite being associated with the party.
The chief justice made the remark as he led a 13-member full court hearing the petition filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council against the denial of reserved seats.
Earlier during the hearing, Justice Jamal Mandokhel had stated that it is every candidate’s right to get a symbol in election.
“A candidate participates in the elections, not the party, the candidate only shows his affiliation with the party, the candidate has the right to get the symbol for the election,” he added.
The court session followed Attorney General, Mansoor Usman Awan’s submission of the government’s written reply to the apex court.
The reply opposes the SIC’s plea to allocate reserved seats for women and minorities in the National and provincial assemblies.
In the detailed 30-page submission, the government argues that reserved seats for minorities and women should be allocated to political parties that participated in the elections and won at least one seat.
The allocation should be based on the party’s total number of seats won, as stipulated by the law.
“Independently elected candidates are counted towards reserved seats for women and non-Muslims only when they join political parties within 3 days of publication of names of the returned candidates in the official Gazette” under Articles 51(6)(d) and (e), as well as 106(3)(c), the AGP’s response read.
The SIC neither contested the general elections as a political party nor filed any list of candidates for reserved seats for women and non-Muslims, under Section 104 of the Election Act, 2017, it further stated.
The attorney general said that the approval of the SIC’s appeal would be an “antithesis to the democracy” and “will weaken the political parties who participate in the electoral process”.
