The Supreme Court of Pakistan has issued a detailed 70-page verdict declaring the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision on reserved seats unconstitutional.
The judgment, written by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, also annulled a previous ruling by the Peshawar High Court (PHC), affirming that the reserved seats should be allocated to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The verdict was delivered by an 8-5 majority of a full bench led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa. Judges like Justices Yahya Afridi, Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, and Naeem Akhtar Afghan dissented, emphasizing the importance of proportional representation.
“We find it important to emphasize that the Commission, as a constitutional “electoral management body”, is not merely an administrative entity but a fundamental “guarantor institution” of democratic processes, with a constitutional status akin to a “fourth branch of government”.
The Commission must therefore fully recognize its constitutional position and the critical role it plays in a democracy while performing its duty to conduct free and fair 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 fulfill this role in the General Elections of 2024”, says 70 pages of detailed judgment authored by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali in the reserved seats case.
Eight judges in the majority judgment said what surprised us during the proceedings of these appeals are the way the Commission participated in and contested the matter before us as a primary contesting party against SIC and PTI.
We are aware that the Commission’s prime function, under Article 218(3) of the Constitution, is to ‘organize and conduct the election and to make such arrangements as are necessary to ensure that the election is conducted honestly, justly, fairly, and under law, and that corrupt practices are guarded against.
