“The law does not prevent the Election Commission from issuing another calendar,” says lawyer Ali Zafar
PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on the petition by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) challenging the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ruling. who denied the allocation of seats reserved for the party.
Earlier today, the APS resumed the hearing which is being conducted by a five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan and comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar, Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, Justice Shakeel Ahmad and Justice Arshad Ali .
During his arguments, SIC lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar said the Constitution does not mention when a party has to submit a list of names for seats reserved for the ECP.
“Nowhere is it written that the list cannot be resubmitted or when it should be submitted,” the lawyer argued, adding that there is no restriction on providing a second list and the ECP could have issued a second schedule, as it did. . for the general elections.
“According to the law, those who participate in the elections will get seats,” said Justice Anwar.
The court then questioned advocate Zafar whether it was not clearly stated somewhere that the second annexure could not be issued.
“The law does not prevent the Electoral Commission from issuing another schedule,” the lawyer responded.
Justice Arshad commented that Section 104 explains the mechanism for reserved seats as it states that when one list is presented, another list can be provided.
“Article 104 says that if a political party participates in an election, it will give a list,” the lawyer argued.
He earlier argued that whoever wins the number of seats will get reserved seats in the same proportion.
“Their seats cannot be increased.”
“If these seats are not granted, the parliament will not be complete,” observed the chief justice, to which the lawyer asked the court to interpret the Constitution in a way that there were no gaps in its interpretation.
Lawyer Zafar told the court that the ECP has the authority to [make] laws to maintain justice. He added that there are also elections for reserved seats and they should also be transparent.
Discussing the admissibility of the petition, the counsel said that the grounds raised in Punjab and Sindh were limited to the respective provincial assemblies, but the one being heard by PHC pertains to the reserved seats of the province issued in the National Assembly and KP Provincial. .
He argued that while the SIC had not submitted the list, the Lahore High Court had ruled that there was no ban.
Before concluding his arguments, Barrister Zafar directed the court towards a statement on the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) that he had taken from the ECP website. The lawyer earlier argued that in the past the party had also received reserved seats from the electoral authority.
On March 4, the electoral body accepted the applications of the opposing parties and decided that the seats in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies would not remain vacant and would be allocated through a process of proportional representation of political parties based on the seats obtained by political parties.
More to continue…
