The Supreme Court Judge has issued an important decision of Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel in the reserved seats case, in which he accepted partial appeals and converted the majority decision regarding 41 seats into a review appeal.
According to Justice Jamal Mandokhel’s 12-page decision, he has maintained his original decision on 39 reserved seats, but the majority decision in the case of 41 seats is not in accordance with the constitution and the facts.
He said that the court cannot change the political affiliation of a candidate, and the court did not have the authority to declare 41 candidates independent.
The decision clarified that the case of 41 candidates was not pending before the court, hence the majority decision was “exceeding its authority”. Justice Jamal Mandokhel has declared these 41 seats back in favor of the Sunni Ittehad Council.
It should be noted that earlier in the decision of Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, 41 candidates were declared independent, on which Justice Jamal Mandokhel dissented and partially accepted the appeals.
The President of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Junaid Akbar, expressed his gratitude to Allah and the Chief Justice for deciding in accordance with the Constitution.
Speaking to the media in Peshawar, he stated that PTI has engaged in a political and constitutional struggle, maintaining full faith in the judiciary throughout this process.
Junaid Akbar announced that if the Governor does not administer the oath by 4 PM tomorrow, the Speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will step in to officiate the swearing-in of the new Chief Minister. He confidently claimed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would have a new Chief Minister by tomorrow, emphasising that the election was conducted constitutionally and legally.
He also remarked that one should not support undemocratic practices. When asked about the opposition parties’ decision to boycott, he explained that the boycott stemmed from the inability of all political parties to agree on a candidate.
It is important to note that the Peshawar High Court issued a reserved verdict today regarding the swearing-in of the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The court has ruled that the Governor must administer the oath to the newly elected Chief Minister tomorrow, Wednesday, at 4 PM. Additionally, the decision states that if the Governor fails to do so, the Speaker should administer the oath on the same day.
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