Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi opposed the formation of the constitutional bench on Tuesday, casting a vote against it, sources told Aaj News as the Judicial Commission of Pakistan formed a seven-member constitutional bench.

The newly-formed JCP met on Tuesday for the formation of a seven-member constitutional bench.

Among the judges included in the constitutional commission are three judges who were part of the eight judges that issued a majority decision on specific seats.

The JCP decided to appoint Justice Amin-ud-din Khan as the head of the bench in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He is the fourth senior-most judge in the apex court.

Justice Khan along with Justice Ayesha Malik would represent Punjab on the bench while Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail would represent Balochistan. Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi will represent Sindh while Justice Musarrat Hilali will represent KP on the bench.

According to sources, the decision was reached with a vote of seven to five.

Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub and Opposition Leader in Senate Shibli Faraz voted against the formation of the bench while Justice Amin-ud-Din, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, AGP Mansoor Awan, and Pakistan Bar Council representative Akhtar Hussain voted in favour. PPP’s Farooq Hamid Naek, PML-N’s Aftab Ahmed, and Roshan Khurshid Broacha also supported the decision.

The government narrowly passed constitutional amendments on October 21 giving lawmakers more power to appoint top judges, who have issued a series of recent decisions favouring opposition chief Imran Khan.

Under the reforms, new benches would be formed of senior judges from across the country to weigh exclusively on constitutional issues, at the core of disputes between the government and PTI in the Supreme Court.

On Monday, the treasury bulldozed bills related to the Supreme Court and armed forces in the National Assembly. Moreover, it took minutes for the Senate to pass the bills.

The bill proposed adding Article 191A to the Constitution, which relates to the formation of constitutional benches, to the preamble. The preamble of the 2023 act stated: “[…] Article 191 of the Constitution allows the Supreme Court to create rules that govern its practice and procedures.”