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Supreme Court's Justice Athar Minallah said Tuesday that it is a "proven fact" that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) misinterpreted the apex court's verdict denying the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of its "bat" symbol over failure to hold valid intra-party polls.

"Should the court give its validation to an unconstitutional interpretation done by a constitutional body? [...] Do you want us to revive the doctrine of necessity?" Justice Minallah remarked.

His remarks came as a 13-member full-court SC bench heard the Sunni Ittehad Council's (SIC) plea against the Peshawar High Court's (PHC) verdict upholding the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision denying them the reserved seats.

The bench, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, comprises Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.

During the hearing today, Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman argued that independent candidates are considered to be a part of a political party if they join it.

"The question is whether independent candidates can join the SIC under Article 51? the AGP said.

At this, Justice Minallah stressed that a political party has rights under Article 51 of the Constitution and remarked that people voted for a political party, however, the ECP excluded a political party from the polls.

The attorney general further contended that independent candidates can neither form a parliamentary party nor they can join a political party which doesn't have the status of a parliamentary party.

Additionally, SIC lawyer Faisal Siddiqui submitted the notification issued by the National Assembly Secretariat regarding Zartaj Gul's appointment as parliamentary leader and argued that the ECP — in its response — acknowledged the independent candidates' joining of the SIC.

This prompted Justice Muneeb to remark that the electoral body was in fact accepting the independent candidates as belonging to the SIC.

"Now, the ECP's own record is accepting these people as belonging to the SIC […] tell me how is the ECP depriving them of the reserved seats despite acknowledging them as a parliamentary party?" the judge questioned, adding that independent candidates become a parliamentary party if they join a political party.

Furthermore, Justice Ayesha questioned how could the electoral body consider the SIC a parliamentary party when it doesn't regard it as a political party in the first place.

The court then adjourned the case till July 9.