SC to hear SIC reserved seats case today

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court is set to conduct a hearing on Monday (today) regarding the case of reserved seats for the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).

The full court, led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, will commence the session at 9:30 am.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has already submitted a written response to the apex court, stating that the SIC is no longer entitled to the reserved seats. It reiterated that the SIC’s eligibility was compromised on several grounds.

ECP told the Supreme Court that the SIC’s constitution is violative of articles 17, 20 & 25 of the Constitution and the party is not entitled to any reserved seats for women and in particular for non-Muslims.

Read:SIC not entitled to reserved seats: ECP

“Article 3, Chapter 1, of the Constitution of the SIC restricts membership of the SIC to only adult Muslims, and places further three other conditions of a like nature to membership.

“The conditions in said Article 3 of SIC’s Constitution are violative of Articles 17, 20 and 25 of the Constitution, in view thereof, SIC clearly is not entitled to any reserved seats for women and in particular for non-Muslims,” the ECP said in, a concise statement submitted to the to court.

The ECP on December 22, 2023 stripped the PTI of its election symbol in view of irregularities in its intra-party polls. The Supreme Court on January 13 upheld the ECP order, forcing the PTI candidates to contest the February 8 general elections as independents.

The independent candidates joined the SIC after the announcement of official election results. The SIC later sought reserved seats in the parliament and provincial assemblies in proportion to its general seats.

Also read:SC lists SIC’s reserved seats appeal

However, the ECP on March 1 refused to allot these reserved seats to the SIC. The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on March 25 also upheld the ECP order, prompting the SIC to approach the apex court.

The SC is scheduled to complete hearings on two other cases on June 24 and 25.