Pakistan’s Supreme Court gave a big decision against the ‘rigging’ of Shahbaz Sharif government and the Election Commission.
The Supreme Court expressed dissatisfaction over the actions of the commission after the elections held on February 8 and ordered implementation of the decision in favour of Imran Khan’s party regarding the reserved seats.
The Supreme Court expressed its displeasure towards the Election Commission and said that this action of the Commission should be strongly condemned.
If the order of the Pakistan Supreme Court is followed to the letter, then Imran’s party PTI can become the largest party in the Pakistan National Assembly. The addition of reserved seats will further increase the strength of PTI.
This order of Pakistan’s top court on Saturday proved to be a major blow to the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
This will make Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) the largest party in both houses of Parliament.
The government led by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party had filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against the July 15 decision to allot the reserved seat to the PTI.
Earlier, a 13-member bench of the apex court had on July 12 ruled by a majority of eight to five that the PTI was eligible for seats reserved for women and minorities in the National Assembly and state assemblies.
The court also declared that PTI should be considered a parliamentary party. It is worth noting that PTI chief and former PM 71-year-old Imran Khan is currently facing more than 200 cases and he has been convicted in many of them. He is currently lodged in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.
Imran Khan had earlier claimed that the February 8 general election was rigged and called his rivals PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) “mandate thieves”.
In the election, both the PML-N and the PPP individually won 92 seats less than the 100 won by independent candidates supported by Imran Khan’s PTI. The two parties formed an alliance after the election and Shahbaz was crowned.
Under the agreement, the PML-N got the post of Prime Minister and Chief Minister of Punjab province, while the PPP got the post of President and Chief Minister of Sindh province.
What difference will the decision of Pakistan Supreme Court make
If now the reserved seats are allotted to PTI after Pakistan Supreme Court’s decision, it will worsen the position of PML-N-PPP.
Earlier, ahead of the 8-5 majority verdict in the Supreme Court on July 12, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had told the court that 39 out of 80 members of the National Assembly admitted they were associated with the PTI.
While 41 contested the election as independent members, within 15 days they clarified before the commission that all of them had contested the February 8 election as candidates of a particular political party.
However, the Supreme Court rejected the ECP’s arguments. The court remarked, “It cannot be supported. Even on the application of elementary principles of law, the Election Commission’s action is wrong.” The apex court said, “The Election Commission has acted contrary to the Constitution and the law and such an attempt should be strongly condemned.”
It is noteworthy that the issue of reserved seats in Pakistan arose soon after the February 8 elections when PTI-backed independent candidates joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) but the ECP refused to allot them reserved seats.
The Peshawar High Court had on March 14 dismissed the appeal against the ECP decision.
In April, the SIC filed a petition before the Supreme Court against the High Court’s decision. The apex court ruled in favour of the PTI on July 12 and allowed it to apply for reserved seats.
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