ISLAMABAD: The information minister Ataul Tarar has revealed said that the government would submit a review petition to the apex court against its last week’s verdict which declared that the PTI would be eligible for reserved seats for women and minorities.
The top court had given its verdict in PTI’s favour following the closure of hearing on a set of appeals moved by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) against the denial of reserved seats for women and non-Muslims to it by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
PTI-backed candidates, who had contested and won the February 8 elections as independents after their party was stripped of its election symbol, had joined the SIC to form a coalition of convenience.
The top court on July 12 annulled the decision of the PHC while also declaring the decision of the election regulator null and void, terming it against the Constitution.
Tarar said that regarding the apex court’s verdict, an impression was created that the party was given relief without asking for it. “However, Tehreek-i-Insaf was not a party in the case, the members [in question] did not claim to be PTI candidates, and all of them submitted SIC affidavits and joined the party”, he said, adding that according to the manifesto of the SIC, a non-Muslim could not become a member of the party which is why the party could not get minorities’ seats.
“The [SIC] MNAs never expressed their desire to join the PTI before the Supreme Court, therefore, given the legal inaccuracy in this decision, the ruling governmental party and its allies have decided to submit a review petition against the Supreme Court’s verdict,” Tarar said.
The government later submitted a review petition to the apex court calling for the verdict in the case of the reserved seats to be recalled and its operation suspended.
Reproducing the court’s declaration that the PTI was indeed a political party, the petition said: “These findings are even beyond the pleadings of the Parties. The issue of granting the reserved seats to PTI was not even in the pleadings of SIC and hence the same cannot be granted. It is a cardinal and well settled principle in our jurisprudence that ‘parties are bound by their pleadings’. In the instant case, neither SIC sought this relief, nor pleaded for the same.”