Pak: Imran Khan's party wins legal victory as SC rules PTI eligible for reserved seats

Imran Khan. File pic

In a major legal victory for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared the party eligible for a share of reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies, Dawn reported.

The landmark judgement, delivered on Friday by a 13-member bench in an 8-5 ruling, dealt a significant setback to the coalition government.

The case was filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), a political party whose PTI-backed candidates joined after the February 8 general election, which they were forced to contest as independents.

The PTI, led by Imran Khan, who has been in jail since August due to criminal cases, was initially barred from contesting the elections under its electoral symbol, a cricket bat, due to alleged electoral law violations.

Consequently, PTI candidates ran as independents but won 93 seats in the National Assembly, outstripping other parties.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) came second with 75 seats, while the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) secured third place with 54 seats. Following Khan's refusal to join hands with any rival party, the PML-N and PPP agreed to form a coalition government with smaller parties.

PTI-backed candidates, having won as independents, later aligned with SIC to form a coalition. The Supreme Court's decision on Friday annulled the Peshawar High Court's (PHC) ruling and declared the ECP's decision null and void, citing it as unconstitutional.

According to Dawn, the top court on Friday annulled the decision of the PHC while also declaring the decision of the election regulator null and void, terming it against the Constitution of Pakistan.

Reacting to the verdict, PTI members lauded the top court's decision. A post from the PTI's official X account demanded the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja for "violating [the] Constitution of Pakistan".

PTI leader and former KP finance minister Taimur Khan Jhagra congratulated Imran Khan and PTI supporters on the Supreme Court's decision.

"We are on the right side of history, as difficult as that may be. The fight will go on," he wrote on X, adding that there were "serious questions on the malafide intent" of the ECP.

The reserved seats issue came to the limelight after over 80 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed independent candidates emerged victorious in the February 8 elections.

The SIC then approached the ECP on February 21 seeking allocation of reserved seats.

However, the PTI suffered a setback after the electoral body, citing the party's failure to submit its list of candidates, denied allocating the reserved seats to the SIC via its 4-1 majority verdict on March 4.

The election commission distributed the reserved seats for women and minorities among other political parties.

The PTI-backed SIC had approached the court after the ECP refused to allocate the reserved seats due to the party's failure to submit its list of candidates before the deadline. The Peshawar High Court (PHC) upheld the ECP's decision, leading the SIC to appeal to the Supreme Court.

According to the notification, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, the ECP allocated one reserved seat each to Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

In Sindh Assembly - allocated reserved seats for women to Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and PPP. PPP's Samita Afzal and MQM-P's Fouzia Hameed were elected on reserved seats.

Furthermore, PPP's Sadhu Mal alias Surinder Valasai secured a minority seat in Sindh Assembly.

The ECP allocated three reserved seats for minorities to PML-N, PPP and JUI-F - which were claimed by the Sunni Ittehad Council. PML-N's Neelam Meghwar, PPP's Ramesh Kumar and JUI-F's James Iqbal were elected on the minority seats.

Subsequently, the PHC ruling allowed the ruling coalition, comprising the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and other allies, to gain a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. This decision increased the PML-N's seats to 123 and the PPP's to 73, while the SIC held 82 seats.

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