The Supreme Court on Monday released its detailed verdict on the July 12 order in the reserved seats case, which had declared the PTI a parliamentary party.
The July short order had declared ex-premier Imran Khan’s PTI eligible for seats reserved for women and minorities, dealing a major setback to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition.
The case had been heard by a 13-member bench — headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and including justices Mansoor Ali Shah, Shahid Waheed, Ayesha Malik, Irfan Saadat, Athar Minallah, Muneeb Akhtar, Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Muhammad Ali Mazhar.
Today’s detailed order, available on the SC’s website, was authored by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, who is set to become the next CJP in October.
The verdict states: “When election authorities engage in actions […] such as unlawfully denying the recognition of a major political party and treating its nominated candidates as independents, they not only compromise the rights of these candidates but also significantly infringe upon the rights of the electorate and corrode their own institutional legitimacy.”
“In the present case, […] the unlawful acts and omissions of the Returning Officers and the Commission, which have caused confusion and prejudice to PTI, its candidates and the electorate who voted for PTI, are numerous,” the order read.
More to follow
