ROs rightly showed 41 candidates as independents: Justice Mandokhel

Reserved seats case

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court’s Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail has observed that returning officers (ROs) correctly prepared lists of 41 independent candidates during the 2024 general elections, as it was PTI’s decision-makers who “compelled” them to contest in that manner.

Justice Mandokhail, a member of the now-defunct Constitutional Bench (CB), made the observation in his additional note in the reserved seats review case. In its June 27 ruling, the CB, by a majority of seven judges, had overturned the earlier SC judgment of July 12, 2024 that had granted reserved seats to the PTI.

While seven judges had accepted all review petitions filed by the ruling coalition parties, three others — including Justice Mandokhail — had partially allowed them, and two had rejected the pleas outright on the first day of the hearing.

Justice Mandokhail had maintained his original July 2024 order of giving 39 seats to PTI, but reviewed the majority judgment to the extent of 41 seats. In his note uploaded on the SC website, the judge detailed the reasoning for his ruling and how the CB could not include all judges who were part of the original bench due to the post-26th Amendment scenario.

“Apparently, it was the PTI’s decision-makers’ decision, which compelled the 41 candidates and others to submit their nomination papers independently,” Justice Mandokhail wrote, adding that the majority of the original SC bench did not “consider this important aspect of the case”.

The judge noted that to the extent of those 41 candidates, the ROs “correctly prepared [a] list of contesting candidates while drawing Form-33, showing them as independents” and those 41 individuals then joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) by exercising their right provided under Article 51 (6d) of the Constitution.

Justice Mandokhail pointed out that the 41 candidates had declared themselves as independents in their nomination papers submitted by Dec 24, 2023, which was before the January 2024 SC verdict that revoked the PTI’s bat symbol — the same judgment that PTI argued led to “peculiar circumstances” and therefore the independent declarations.

PTI’s Salman Akram Raja said that the party “administration had decided that the candidates should submit their nomination papers independently to avoid any unwarranted situation”, the note recalled.

“They did not claim to be affiliated with PTI nor showed their intention to leave SIC and join any other party. Under such circumstances, how could it be presumed that their declaration as independent candidates was on account of that judgment?” Justice Mandokhail said.

He added that if Raja’s contention about peculiar circumstances was “believed to be correct, a question arises as to how those 39 returned candidates and the number of others who lost elections, submitted their nomination papers declaring themselves as PTI’s candidates?”

However, about the 39 PTI-backed people who had submitted their party nomination papers, Justice Mandokhail maintained that the ROs and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had “mis-exercised their jurisdiction by declaring the PTI’s 39 affiliated candidates as independents [and] by refusing to allot reserved seats to PTI on the strength of its affiliated returned candidates”.

Headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan then, the CB, through a short order on June 27, had overturned the July 12, 2024 majority judgment that declared the PTI eligible for reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the national and provincial assemblies.

Majority of CB refused ‘best solution’ on way to include original bench judges

In his additional note, Justice Mandokhail also touched upon the matter of not being able to include judges from the SC bench that gave the original July 2024 verdict. Staff Report