Supreme Court’s verdict takes election commission to cleaners for ‘failure’ to perform its role

In a damning judgment, the Supreme Court of Pakistan on September 23 issued a detailed verdict of the reserved seats case once again, calling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) a “political party” and rightful recipient of their reserved seats’ quota.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, next in line to become the CJP, wrote the 70-page detailed order days after the NA speaker Ayaz Sadiq wrote to ECP to not implement the top court’s July 12 verdict.

On July 12, in a significant political and symbolic win for PTI, a thirteen-member bench of the Supreme Court ruled that PTI had the legal and constitutional right to reserved seats.

The detailed judgement emphasised that lack of political symbols does not devoid any political party of its constitutional rights to take part in elections.

In today’s verdict the Supreme Court strongly criticised the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for failure to play its lawful role in the February 8 elections.

“The Commission must uphold democratic principles and the integrity of electoral processes by ensuring that elections truly reflect the will of the people, thereby preserving the democratic fabric of the nation. Unfortunately, the circumstances of the present case indicate that the Commission has failed to fulfil this role in the General Elections of 2024,” observed the majority judgment.

Furthermore, Justice Shah’s verdict points out that the Supreme Court was “surprised” how the ECP behaved as a “primary contesting party against SIC and PTI”.