ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday announced the much-anticipated judgement in the Reserved Seats Case, overturning the denial of reserved seats to the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and declaring the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision of allocating reserved seats to the ruling coalition as unconstitutional.
The 13-member Full Court led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa pronounced the judgement – reserved on Tuesday – on a set of appeals moved by the SIC against the denial of reserved seats for women and non-Muslims to it by the ECP.
It was a majority decision of 8 to 5, which was read by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah.
The Members of the Full Court of the Apex Court included Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayeshaa. Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
The judgement was pronounced amid tight security arrangements as a heavy contingent of law enforcement personnel was deployed outside the premises of the Supreme Court building and all roads leading towards the Apex Court were closed for general public.
