Pakistan Supreme Court Questions Election Commission on Excluding Imran Khan’s PTI from Elections

The Pakistan Supreme Court has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) why Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was excluded from the general elections, which led to the loss of reserved seats. Justice Athar Minallah, a member of the full-court bench, emphasized the need for a fair electoral process and directed the ECP to provide evidence that all political parties were treated equally before, during, and after the February 8 general elections.

The court will continue hearing the case on Monday. Justice Minallah noted that petitions questioning the integrity of the February 8 elections should be heard alongside the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) appeal regarding reserved seats for women and minorities. He stressed that the issue involves the fundamental democratic and constitutional rights of voters and that the court must ensure no voter is disenfranchised.

The ECP’s alleged failure to provide a level playing field and its exclusion of PTI based on a flawed interpretation of a Supreme Court judgment has raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral process. The Sunni Ittehad Council highlighted that the ECP had previously allocated reserved seats to the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) under different standards, which they argue is discriminatory.