Govt to review SC reserved seats verdict before instituting legal challenge

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to consult legal experts and carefully examine the Supreme Court’s judgement that declared the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) eligible to receive reserved seats, before rushing to challenge it.

“We have decided to file a review petition after seeking legal guidance and going through the judgement of the apex court,” said Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs and Inter-Provincial Coordination Rana Sanaullah at a press conference on Friday.

“The government will carefully review the details of the Supreme Court’s judgement on reserved seats before determining its next move,” he added.

The adviser made it clear that the decision to seek a review of the verdict lies with the cabinet. Also, federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar, when asked at a separate presser, said it was a prerogative of the federal cabinet and not a minister to decide about challenging the SC ruling.

Regarding PTI’s stance, he said, “PTI never claimed the reserved seats. If the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) misinterpreted the ruling, PTI could have interpreted it correctly. Even if PTI has made a mistake, the court must rectify it.”

He was of the opinion that the ruling did not favour the SIC whose petition was not accepted. He believed that members who joined the SIC by giving an affidavit could be de-seated by the ECP if they would join any other party. He warned that allowing members who joined one party under an affidavit to switch parties could lead to further legal complications.

Explaining the case, he said that some individuals participated in the general elections as independent candidates and, after winning, provided formal affidavits within three days, as per the Constitution and law, to join the SIC.

He added that the SIC requested for reserved seats, but the ECP maintained that since the SIC did not participate in the election as a party, these seats could not be allocated to them. The SIC then appealed to the Peshawar High Court, where this decision was upheld, and subsequently went to the Supreme Court.

“We hold the courts and judges in utmost esteem. They are the best at what they do. Judges have sworn to protect the Constitution; rewriting it contravenes this oath,” he added.

Mentioning that the primary agenda of the current government was to steer the country out of economic crisis, the adviser said the government was open to political dialogue that the PTI had initially refused. The PM had extended an offer for talks during the budget session, he said.

Responding to a question, he said that the SC ruling was not a conspiracy against PML-N-led coalition government. He said the PML-N government had sufficient numbers in the federal government and more than necessary in Punjab.

No threat to govt: minister

Also, Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar addressed a presser to make it clear that the SC decision on the reserved seats did not pose any threat to the coalition government.

The law minister claimed the PML-N government still had a majority in the lower house, with 209 members.

However, he claimed the judgement was “tantamount to rewriting the Constitution”. The stance of the in­­­dependent members belonging to the PTI was that reserved seats sho­u­­ld be given to the SIC after they join­­ed it, he said. With this decision, he ad­ded, apparently Articles 51 and 106 of the Constitution were rewritten.

Mr Tarar clarified that PTI was not a party in the case and that independent members did not approach any forum after winning the election in this regard. Similarly, he added, the PTI never claimed that the party should get reserved seats by approaching any court.

Also, he said, the SIC manifesto did not allow allocation of seats reserved for non-Muslims to its members.

In response to a question whether the government would seek a review on the apex court order, the law minister replied that he was not sure whether the government would file a review petition challenging the verdict or not as it was the prerogative of the federal cabinet, not a minister.

The law minister assured that the government would not confuse this constitutional issue with politics, adding that the ruling alliance had a clear majority of 209 members in the National Assembly.

‘No right to question ECP’

On the other hand, Information Mi­­nister Attaullah Tarar said PTI should better confess its series of blu­nders, instead of maligning the Elec­tion Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a matter related to the reserved seats in the parliament. He said the party had no right to question ECP.

Rejecting the PTI’s propaganda against the ECP, the minister said it was the PTI that failed to hold intra-party election in accordance with the law. Also, the independent candidates belonging to PTI failed to join any party that had presence in the parliament, he said, adding that they did not even request to be declared PTI MNAs in this case.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2024