The Supreme Court of Pakistan has resumed hearing the Supreme Court Bar Association’s (SCBA) petition challenging the apex court’s previous ruling on the defection clause.
A Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa-led five-member bench comprising Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan is hearing the plea.
The new bench was constituted a day earlier due to Justice Munib Akhtar’s “unavailability” for varying reasons.
The lawyer’s body had moved the apex court against its May 2022 verdict wherein it declared that the votes of dissident members of Parliament (MPs), cast against their parliamentary party’s directives, cannot be counted.
During yesterday’s hearing, the federal government and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) announced to back the SCBA’s review plea with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) expressing its opposition to the petition.
Appearing before the court, SCBA President Shahzad Shaukat termed the 2022 order as an attempt to rewrite the Constitution.
