ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Law Azam Nazeer Tarar has said that the Supreme Court’s decision on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) reserved seats case does not pose any threat to the government.
“The government still has a majority of 209 members and the decision has not been completed yet,” said the law minister following the apex court ruled that the PTI was eligible for the allocation of reserved seats in assemblies.
He said that he was unsure whether the government is going to file review petition challenging the decision or not.
The development comes following the Supreme Court announced 8-5 majority decision, nullifying the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) verdict wherein it had upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision denying the reserved seats to the SIC.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan has said that the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) verdict of allocating reserved seats to the ruling coalition was unconstitutional. The decision was announced by a Full Court led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, and comprising Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Yahya Afridi, Munib Akhtar, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Aminuddin Khan, Ayesha Malik, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Athar Minallah, Shahid Waheed, Irfan Saadat Khan, and Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
The decision said that the PTI was eligible for reserved seats. It suspended the previous verdicts of the Election Commission of Pakistan, Peshawar High Court about the allocation of reserved seats. “The PTI was a political party, remains a political party”, the order stated while instructing the PTI to submit a list of its reserved seats candidates within fifteen days.
Earlier, the Supreme Court of Pakistan reserved verdict regarding a case involving the opposition Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC)’s claim to reserved seats in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies.
