The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday issued a 70-page detailed judgment regarding the reserved seats case of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) which is yet to be implemented by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The short decision in the case of the reserved seat was announced by a full court bench on July 12. By a majority of eight judges, the bench had awarded reserved seats to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
Below are the key points in the details verdict:
- The verdict stated that PTI is eligible for a reserved seat despite not contesting the election on the party symbol.
- The PTI is a political party that won seats in the national and provincial legislatures in the general elections. ECP must notify PTI members of the reserved seats.
- The ECP’s March 1 decision is contradictory to the Constitution and has no legal value.
- The stakes in the general elections fundamentally lie with the people.
- The case before the court was not an ordinary one but was instead a matter of high public importance.
- The matter was not decided based on assumptions but to allow the matter to be settled concretely.
