Eight judges of the Supreme Court on Friday issued a second clarification to their majority verdict in the reserved seats case, asserting that amendments to the Elections Act, 2017, cannot undo the ruling with retrospective effect and directing the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to implement its original order.
The second clarification noted that both the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the ECP had sought additional clarification on the effect of the Elections (Second Amendment) Act, 2024 on the court’s order. It observed the PTI had submitted a petition maintaining that amendments could not supplant the effect of the court’s short order, while the ECP had questioned the legality of the order after Sections 66 and 104 of the Elections Act were amended with retrospective effect from the date of the commencement of the Act.
Noting that a detailed judgment was released prior to the submission of the latest requests for clarification, the eight-judge bench observed no further clarification was required. “The judgment of this Court has binding effect in terms of Article 189 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, and should have been implemented,” it stated.
However, it added, since both the PTI and the ECP had sought a second clarification, “we want to simply clarify and reiterate the well-settled exposition of law that the effect of the amendment made in the Elections Act cannot undo our judgment with retrospective effect.” It stressed the short order had granted “relief” to enforce the right of political parties’ supporters to have “proportional representation in the reserved seats under paragraphs (d) and (e) of clause (6) of Article 51 and paragraph (c) of clause (3) of Article 106 of the Constitution.” As such, it continued, amendments made in the Elections Act after the release of the short order had no bearing and the ECP was bound to implement the judgment passed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, “in its letter and spirit, without seeking any further clarification.”
On July 12, eight judges of the full court—Justices Mansoor Ali Shah, Munib Akhtar, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha A. Malik, Athar Minallah, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Shahid Waheed, Irfan Saadat Khan—had ruled in favor of the PTI, granting it a proportional share in reserved seats while denying petitioner Sunni Ittehad Council the same. In September, as the order remained unimplemented, the judges had issued a clarification of their order, warning of consequences if the order were not implemented forthwith.
Meanwhile, the speakers of all assemblies have written to the ECP urging it to allocate reserved seats. While the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa speaker has sought the implementation of the apex court’s order, the speakers of the National Assembly and the Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies had urged it to allocate reserved seats on the basis of the amended Elections Act. The ECP has yet to allocate any of the contested seats, despite having conducted multiple rounds of meetings with its legal team. The matter has particular urgency for lawmakers of both the opposition and the government, as allocation of reserved seats could facilitate—or hinder—the smooth passage of proposed constitutional amendments.