Election Commission objects to retired judge's remarks on 2023 polls ruling

The Election Commission of Pakistan has objected to remarks by retired Supreme Court judge Mansoor Ali Shah about the 2023 ruling on elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and about the reserved seats case involving the PTI, Dawn reported.

Shah, who was the senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court before his retirement, made the comments at an event organised by the US-based Community Alliance for Peace and Justice on October 29, according to Dawn.

At the event he was asked about his dissenting opinion in the 2023 Supreme Court ruling on provincial elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and whether that dissent was a turning point and the beginning of a division within the court.

The Supreme Court decided the 2023 case by a 3-2 verdict. The reserved seats case concerns the PTI's claim to the seats kept for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies.

The Express Tribune reported the same development under a headline saying the ECP had rebutted the former judge's remarks on reserved seats.

The two reports differ in reach. Dawn's account ties the objection to both the 2023 polls ruling and the reserved seats case, and gives the venue and the date of Shah's remarks. The Express Tribune's headline addresses reserved seats alone and names neither the judge nor the event.

The objection places the commission, which runs the elections Shah's dissent addressed, in a public dispute with a former judge of the country's top court.

Neither report published the text of the commission's objection, set out its reasoning or carried a response from Shah. Neither said whether the objection was made in a written statement, a letter or another form. Dawn said only that the commission acted on Monday.

The commission is the constitutional body that conducts elections for the national and provincial assemblies and allocates the seats reserved for women and minorities.