Islamabad, July 12: In a major legal victory for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the party is eligible for the allocation of reserved seats. With this, the PTI is expected to emerge as the largest party in the National Assembly with its number likely to soar to 109.
The court decision has not only paved the way for the PTI’s return to the parliament, which was kicked out of the February 8 polls owing to the ECP’s December 2023 ruling, but has also increased the pressure on the coalition alliance by changing the composition of the National Assembly.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah of the SC’s full bench announced the 8-5 majority verdict, nullifying the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) order wherein it had upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision denying the reserved seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
The verdict was supported by a majority of eight judges, comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan.
The PTI candidates did not contest the polls on a single symbol, forcing them to join hands with the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), but that could not get the party the reserved seats as the ECP ruled against them.
In its decision today, the court declared that the lack or denial of an election symbol does not in any manner affect the Constitutional or legal rights of a political party to participate in an election, whether general or by, and to field candidates and that the commission is under a Constitutional duty to apply all statutory provisions accordingly.
The top court remarked that PTI, as a political party, has a legal and constitutional right to reserved seats.
Rejecting the appeals filed by the SIC, the apex court said that the party cannot take reserved seats as per the Constitution.
The ruling said that the PTI should present a list of eligible candidates for the reserved seats to the electoral body within 15 days after the verdict.
It added that the ECP should then publish the list of reserved seats of the candidates on its website within seven days.
“The seats allocated to the PTI after this stage will be considered as their seats. [Once the PTI gets its seats in parliament], it will be eligible for the reserved seats,” said the ruling.
With the majority seats of the PTI in the lower house of the legislature, the ruling coalition led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will continue to occupy the simple majority with the strength of 209 members. The PML-N has a total of 108 members.
The opposition alliance in the National Assembly will surge to a strength of 120 after the PTI gains 23 reserved seats. Currently, the combined opposition, including the PTI, has 97 members. At present, the PTI has 86 members in the lower house.
