Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faiz Isa on Monday regarding specific seats Sunni Unity Council During the hearing on the appeals of the lawyer Faisal Siddiqui, he raised the question, “Is the constitution of your party not a violation of the constitution of Pakistan?” Answer this question as an officer of court.’
Lawyer Faisal Siddiqui said that he is not answering this question because it is not that simple.
Supreme Court of Pakistan As the hearing of petitions related to the reserved seats of the Sunni Ittehad Council before the 13-member bench began after a break, the chief justice asked the lawyer: ‘Tell me why 86 candidates joined the one-man party?’
On the other hand, the lawyer of Speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, completing his arguments, said that the decision of the Election Commission is against the constitution. We had three applications, if the court wants, I am ready to assist later.
Justice Athar Manullah asked PTI leader Kanwal Shuzab’s lawyer Salman Akram Raja, ‘Tell me why 86 candidates joined the one-man party? What was the reason that PTI candidates went to the second party?’
Lawyer Salman Akram Raja replied: ‘They were told that if the election symbol was returned, the reserved seats would not be available. PTI candidates joined the Sunni Ittehad Council under compulsion.
Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa, while inquiring, said that if there is compulsion, then the constitution and the law are not obeyed? Are all rules and principles broken under compulsion?’
The lawyer replied, ‘Senior lawyers have decided that there is nothing wrong with joining the Sunni Unity Council.’
Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa adjourned the hearing till 9.30 am on Tuesday and said that he will finish the case after listening to all the lawyers.
The Chief Justice instructed the lawyers and said, ‘All the lawyers should give short arguments, we will not give a third day, it will be short. Will hear other parties tomorrow.’
Before the break
During the hearing on Monday, Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa asked the lawyer of the Sunni Ittehad Council, “If PTI is a political party, why did independent candidates separate from PTI?” PTI candidates have committed suicide after becoming independent? If independent candidates had remained in PTI, there would have been no problem today.’
When the hearing started again on this matter, Faisal Siddiqui, the lawyer of the Sunni Unity Council, continued the arguments.
When the hearing started, Faisal Siddiqui, the lawyer of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed Sunni Ittehad Council, started the arguments by saying that he wanted to refer to a few court decisions.
According to him: ‘These judgments emphasized conformity with the natural limits for constitutional interpretation, independent candidates can join any political party.’
The lawyer said that the Election Commission misinterpreted the political party and ignored the constitution regarding reserved seats.
Speaking to lawyer Faisal Siddiqui, the Chief Justice said that ‘if the decision of the Election Commission is wrong, then they should explain the constitution correctly.’
Justice Jamal Mandukhel said that ‘independent candidates can join any party participating in the elections. People have voted for the political parties that have contested the elections. How can such a political party which has not participated in the elections be given specific seats?’
Faisal Siddiqui, referring to Article 51 and 106 of the Constitution of Pakistan, said that ‘there are some basic aspects of the constitutional provisions, one of which is that certain seats will be on the principle of proportional representation and these seats will be on the list given by each party. will be given And each party will get these seats after the inclusion of independent candidates.
During the hearing, Justice Irfan Saadat asked the lawyer, ‘Are you saying that those who won the seats should get specific seats? When the Sunni Ittehad Council did not contest the election, the matter of winning seats ended.
Justice Athar Manullah said that after the decision of the Supreme Court, the Election Commission recognized PTI as a political party.
Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa asked, ‘If PTI is a political party, why did independent candidates separate from PTI? PTI candidates have committed suicide after becoming independent? If independent candidates had remained in PTI, there would have been no problem today.’
Speaking to Faisal Siddiqui, the Chief Justice said that he is a lawyer of the Sunni Ittehad Council and not of PTI.
“The argument in favor of your PTI comes in conflict of interest, the election sign has not been withdrawn from the Sunni Ittehad Council.”
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court could not hold elections: Chief Justice
The Chief Justice inquired, ‘He was the president of PTI, why did he not give the date of the elections? PTI had tried to stop the elections, the party had filed a petition in the Lahore High Court. Don’t point fingers at anyone, there was a three-member bench of the Supreme Court that could not hold elections. We had given the date of the elections.’
The Chief Justice said, “If 90 percent of the independent candidates win in the parliament, then the reserved seats will be given to the remaining 10 percent winning political parties.”
PTI has killed itself: Chief Justice
Lawyer Faisal Siddiqui said that ‘nowhere is it written that a list should be given before the general elections, if independent candidates join a party, their list can be given later.’
The Chief Justice replied, ‘If we accept your hypothesis, a new system will come, PTI has killed itself.’
Justice Athar Manullah said that what happened in 2018 is what happened in the current elections, those who did not hold press conferences were picked up. Should the Supreme Court close its eyes on it?’
Faisal Siddiqui replied that he agreed with him.
Later, the hearing of the case was adjourned for some time.
The last hearing on this matter was held on June 4, while during the hearing on June 3, Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa said in his remarks that ‘Pakistan has a hybrid system, not a complete democracy.’
Justice Qazi Faiz Isa further said that ‘If we go on a hypothesis that a political party contests elections on a hundred seats and loses by one vote on each seat, then in terms of democracy it has lost a hundred seats out of a hundred, those women. And the minority will not be entitled to seats, it is a hybrid system.’
Faisal Siddiqui, the lawyer of the Sunni Ittehad Council, gave arguments during the hearing and said that “We had given the lists of specific seats on behalf of PTI, but our office is closed, so we could not submit them here, but those lists were sent to the Election Commission.” have them.’
On which the Chief Justice said that ‘don’t do that, if you can apply in this regard but don’t make such a statement.’
Justice Jamal Khan Mandukhel asked questions to Faisal Siddiqui: ‘Does the existence of a political party cease to exist by taking away the election symbol? Are the other rights of the political party also revoked?
‘The impression that was given that the funeral went out, was this impression correct? Can a political party nominate its candidates after being stripped of election symbols? Can we conclude that the PPTI was still in place?’
Justice Muneeb Akhtar had said on this occasion that ‘there is a limited question in front of us, should specific seats be given or not?
This section contains related reference points (Related Nodes field).
Earlier, in the last hearing held on May 6, the Supreme Court suspended the March 14 decision of the Peshawar High Court as well as the March 4 decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan, in which the Sunni Ittehad Council for Women and Minorities was suspended. He was deprived of reserved seats.
The Supreme Court had directed the officials of the Election Commission to appear with the records at the next hearing.
What was the decision of the Election Commission?
The Election Commission of Pakistan, ruling under Article 53 Clause VI of the Constitution, Section 104 of the Election Act, rejected the request of the Sunni Ittehad Council for allotment of reserved seats.
The Election Commission had said in its written decision that ‘Sunni Ittehad Council cannot be allotted reserved seats, due to violation of law and failure to provide the party list at the beginning, Sunni Ittehad Council is not entitled to reserved seats.
‘Sunni Ittihad Council has not submitted list for specific seats. So these specific seats will not remain vacant, they will be distributed among political parties in a specific proportional representation method.
What is the party’s position in the House at the moment?
There are currently 13 parties in the National Assembly, of which six parties are part of the ruling coalition. The total number of seats of these parties in the ruling coalition is 208, which is less than the two-thirds majority of 224.
A two-thirds majority will be required for constitutional amendment. After the Election Commission’s decision, the reserved seats were distributed among all the other parties, then the ruling coalition got two-thirds majority, which has increased to 208 again after the suspension of the Supreme Court’s decision.
The total number of reserved seats in the National and Provincial Assemblies of Sunni Unity Council is 78. Out of which 23 belong to the National Assembly while the rest belong to the Provincial Assemblies.
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