Justice Minallah remarked, "Should the court give its validation to an unconstitutional interpretation done by a constitutional body?...Do you want us to revive the doctrine of necessity?” 

The remarks from Justice Minallah came during the hearing of a the Sunni Ittehad Council s (SIC) petition challenging the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) verdict upholding the ECP’s decision denying them the reserved seats.

Also read: SC asks ECP to submit documents on reserved seats formula

The 13-member full-court bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, consists of Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.

During the hearing on Tuesday, Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman said that independent candidates are considered to be a part of a political party if they join it.

He maintained that the question is whether independent candidates can join the SIC under Article 51.

Emphasising that a political party has rights under Article 51 of the Constitution, Justice Minallah remarked that people voted for a political party, however, the ECP excluded it from the elections.

The AGP further argued that independent candidates can neither form a parliamentary party nor they can join a political party which doesn t have the status of a parliamentary party.

In addition, Faisal Siddiqui while representing the SIC submitted before the court a notification issued by the National Assembly Secretariat regarding Zartaj Gul’s appointment as parliamentary leader. He argued that the ECP has acknowledged in the notification the independent candidates’ joining of the SIC.

Meanwhile, Justice Ayesha questioned how could the electoral body consider the SIC a parliamentary party when it doesn t regard it as a political party in the first place.

Also read: Reserved seats only be allocated based on proportional representation, says SC

The reserved seats issue is very significant for the PTI-backed independent candidates as they lost a total of 77 reserved seats in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies because of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) s verdict.

In the February 8 elections, the PTI-backed independent candidates emerged victorious and subsequently joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) to claim seats reserved for minorities and women.

However, the ECP citing the PTI’s failure to submit its list of candidates denied to allocate the reserved seats of its share to the SIC.

The SIC approached the PHC but the court upheld the ECP’s decision on the issue.

Subsequently, the SIC moved the apex court seeking to set aside the PHC verdict and allocate 67 women and 11 minority seats in the assemblies to the PTI-backed party.