Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) challenged the Supreme Court’s decision to reserve seats for PTI following PMLN. PPP filed for review a week after PMLN filed the review petition.
Represented by Farooq H Naek, the review petition seeks to reverse and overturn the Supreme Court’s decision to grant reserved seats to PTI. PPP claims the PTI was not entitled to those reserved seats.
Supreme Court in its landmark decision on July 12th, annulled the decision of Peshawar High Court and Election Commission of Pakistan.
A 13-member bench, led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, announced the verdict. The court had reserved its decision after hearing appeals from the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) the previous day.
The SIC petitioned for the reallocation of 77 seats for women and minorities, initially assigned to PM Shehbaz’s coalition after the February 8 general elections. However, both the Peshawar High Court (PHC) and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rejected this appeal in March, deeming the SIC ineligible for these seats.
Read more: In a massive win, Supreme Court rules PTI eligible for reserved seats
On May 6, the Supreme Court suspended the PHC and ECP’s March rulings, which had denied the SIC the reserved seats. The court ordered the petitions to be placed before a three-judge committee to form a larger bench, as the case involved interpreting constitutional provisions, as highlighted by Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan.
The ECP then suspended victory notifications for 77 members of the national and provincial assemblies elected to those seats. Chief Justice Qazi Faez Esa dissented from the majority decision and argued that summer holidays should be canceled to hear the review petitions.
Developments following the Supreme Court ruling triggered the government to ban the PTI. So far, the coalition party in the government, PPP has not clarified its stance regarding the ban on the party.