The Federal Constitutional Court has dismissed an appeal filed by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) in a dispute over a reserved seat, upholding the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) earlier decision.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Aamer Farooq heard the case concerning the allocation of a reserved seat to the political party.
During the hearing, JUI’s counsel informed the court that the party had submitted four names for the allocation of reserved seats.
The lawyer argued that the Election Commission had no authority to alter the list of candidates submitted by a political party for reserved seats.
Describing the dispute as a unique case in Pakistan’s history, the counsel maintained that JUI had explicitly stated that Sadaf Ehsan was not its nominated candidate.
“JUI is saying that Sadaf Ehsan is not our candidate, but we are being told that she is indeed the candidate of our political party,” the lawyer argued.
The counsel further contended that if a political party had submitted an incorrect list of candidates, the Election Commission could have asked the party to rectify the errors instead of making changes to the list itself.
He maintained that the party’s position regarding its nominated candidates should have been taken into consideration during the allocation process.
However, after hearing the arguments, the Federal Constitutional Court upheld the Election Commission’s decision and dismissed JUI’s appeal.
The ruling brings the party’s challenge before the Federal Constitutional Court over the disputed reserved seat to an end.
