According to information provided by the court, Advocate Azhar Bhandari filed the application, asking it to order the Election Commission to carry out the ruling.
The Election Commission is asked in the petition to act upon the July 12 short order and grant independent candidates certificates of affiliation.
Moreover, the petition asks the court to reject the Election Commission’s plea for additional information regarding the ruling. PTI contended that excessive delay has resulted from the Election Commission’s inability to execute the ruling.
Supreme Court decision
With a huge blow to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition, a 13-member bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa decided that the PTI is entitled to reserved seats.
Declaring the 8–5 majority decision, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah overturned the PHC’s (Peshawar High Court) ruling that had affirmed the ECP’s (Electoral Commission of Pakistan) decision to deny the SIC the reserved seats.
Judge Jamal Mandokhail, Judge Naeem Afghan, Judge Yahya Afridi, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, and Judge Ameenuddin Khan disapproved of the majority ruling.
The problem of reserved seats
More than eighty independent candidates supported by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won the elections on February 8, bringing the issue of reserved seats to light.
In order to request the assignment of reserved seats, the SIC then went to the ECP on February 21.
But the PTI was dealt a blow when the election board refused to award the SIC the reserved seats in a 4-1 majority decision on March 4, citing the party’s noncompliance in submitting its list of candidates.
Among other political parties, the electoral commission assigned the reserved seats for women and minorities.
The ECP declined to assign the reserved seats to the PTI-backed SIC since the party had not filed its list of candidates by the deadline. As a result, the SIC filed an appeal with the court. Following an appeal to the Supreme Court by the SIC, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) maintained the ruling of the ECP.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Pakistan, and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) each received one reserved seat in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, according a notification from the ECP.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and PPP have been allotted reserved seats for women in the Sindh Assembly. Reserved seats were won by MQM-P’s Fouzia Hameed and PPP’s Samita Afzal.
A two-thirds majority in the National Assembly was then made possible by the PHC ruling, which was supported by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and other allies. By this ruling, the SIC retained 82 seats, the PML-N gained 123, and the PPP gained 73.
