The Peshawar High Court on Thursday dismissed the petitions filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council for reserved seats for women and minorities.
A five-member larger bench headed by Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar, Justice SM Atiq Shah, Justice Shakeel Ahmed and Syed Arshad Ali heard the petitions.
At the beginning of the hearing on Thursday, Barrister Ali Zafar, the lawyer of the Sunni Ittehad Council, argued that before the general elections on December 22, the bat sign was taken from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), however, the Peshawar High Court ruled that the Election Commission declared the decision null and void and then the Supreme Court restored the decision of the Election Commission.
According to Barrister Ali Zafar, after that our candidates went to the election as independents and were given separate symbols.
On which Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim inquired that ‘How many seats are there in the National Assembly and how many are there in the Provincial Assemblies? On which Barrister Ali Zafar said that there are 91 seats in the National Assembly, 90 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 107 in Punjab, 9 in Sindh and one in Balochistan.
He told the High Court: ‘For the first time in history such a large number of independent candidates were successful and 86 in the National Assembly, 90 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 107 in Punjab, 9 in Sindh and one in Balochistan joined the Sunni Unity Council. ‘
Barrister Ali Zafar took the stand that the Sunni Ittehad Council is a registered political party and has an election symbol, while participating in elections is not a big deal.
On this occasion, Justice Shakeel Ahmed inquired, ‘Tell me if you don’t participate in the elections, then what will be the consequences?’ On which Barrister Ali Zafar said that I am a political party and I have fundamental constitutional rights.
He said: ‘When a political party is formed, the rest of the rights come to them. It means that a party can contest elections, boycott and form a government.
He further said that reserved seats are reserved for a specific purpose and the aim is to give equal rights to women and minorities.
According to Barrister Ali Zafar: ‘They are not meant to be distributed but specific seats are given in proportion to getting general seats.’
On this occasion, Justice Syed Arshad Ali remarked that ‘specific seats are given when political parties have won seats and the Sunni Ittehad Council has not won any seats.’
On which Barrister Ali Zafar said that ‘when the independent candidates joined, these seats became Sunni Unity Council’.
On which the court remarked that ‘the word skewer has come in the law, you (Sunni Ittehad Council) did not skewer the seats.’
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“By joining the Sunni Ittihad Council, you did not weaken the PTI case because you knew that they did not participate in the elections,” the court added.
On which Barrister Ali Zafar said that ‘PTI did not have an election symbol and also did not have a party chief.’ On which the court remarked that ‘after the decision of the Supreme Court, you still had time, you could have held an intra-party election, you didn’t.’
On which Barrister Ali Zafar said: ‘We conducted an intra-party election but the Election Commission has not accepted it yet.’
The court said that ‘if you had joined PTI, something would have happened, but you joined a party which did not win any seats.’
Regarding the distribution of specific seats to other parties, the court said that ‘it is certain that your party has won seats, but why should other parties not be given specific seats?’
Barrister Ali Tafar said in this regard that in 2018 Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) submitted the list for certain seats later and they got the seats.
According to him: ‘The Election Commission told us that the documents in this regard were not submitted in the application, while the document is available on the website of the Election Commission.’
On which Justice Ijaz Anwar’s remarks that ‘Father’s right is greater’, there was laughter in the court and Barrister Zafar laughed and said, ‘Then consider us sons.’
The High Court in its remarks said that the father had won the seats and the words written in the law are that whoever participates in the elections will get the seats. It is not written that a political party sits outside and waits for independent candidates to come and join it.’
On this occasion, Additional Advocate General Mubasher Manzoor, giving arguments, said that if the independent candidates joined the Sunni Ittihad Council, then it has become a parliamentary party.
He said that ‘the definition of a political party is that it has participated in the election, not that it is in this election.’
According to Mubasher Nazir: ‘Even if a party participates (in the elections) in 2018, it is still a political party.’
On this, the court remarked that ‘only specific seats have been taken from you, the rest of the rights are yours, they have not been taken away.’
The court, after concluding the trial, reserved the judgment and subsequently dismissed the petitions.
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2024-05-29 20:04:36