Key points
- Supreme Court’s 10-member Constitutional Bench dismissed PTI’s petitions for 39 reserved seats
- Court ordered ECP to re-examine all 80 returned candidates’ affiliations
- PTI condemns the verdict as a blow to justice
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan’s Constitutional Bench on Friday dismissed the petitions filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) seeking allocation of reserved seats in national and provincial legislatures, ruling the party ineligible for the 39 seats in question.
The 10-member bench, led by Justice Aminuddin Khan, issued its short order in a 7-5 majority decision that reinstated a previous Peshawar High Court (PHC) judgment and overturned the apex court’s own July 2024 judgment, which had briefly revived PTI’s claim to the reserved seats.
All review petitions are allowed. The impugned majority judgment dated July 12, 2024, is set aside. Petitions filed by the SIC (Sunni Ittehad Council) are dismissed, and the judgment rendered by the Peshawar High Court is reinstated, said Justice Khan while reading out the short order.
Judicial opinions diverge
Initially composed of 13 judges, the Constitutional Bench was reduced to 10 after Justice Salahuddin Panhwar recused himself during Friday’s hearing, and Justices Ayesha A. Malik and Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi had already dismissed the review petitions earlier. The final verdict was endorsed by Justices Aminuddin Khan, Mussarat Hilali, Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, Amir Farooq, and Aleem Hakim Najafi.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail offered a partial concurrence and upheld his original position on the 39 seats but reviewed the July judgment concerning the remaining 41.
The verdict restores the March 2024 PHC ruling, which had held that the SIC — a party that PTI-backed independents had joined after losing its election symbol — could not claim reserved seats due to procedural and legal deficiencies. The PHC had also upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) move to reallocate the seats among other parliamentary parties.
The Supreme Court also instructed the ECP to undertake a fresh review of all 80 returned candidates’ nomination and declaration documents to determine their affiliations, and make decisions on reserved seat allocations within 15 days.
The Election Commission shall carry out a de novo [anew] examination with regard to affiliation of the candidates and take appropriate decisions under applicable laws and rules. – Short order
Major setback to PTI
The ruling deals a significant blow to PTI, which had argued that its aligned independents, now part of SIC, should be treated as a parliamentary bloc eligible for reserved seats. Reacting on social media platform X, the party denounced the verdict as “the funeral of constitutional, judicial traditions, and justice.”
This comes after the Supreme Court, in its July 13, 2024, short order, had recognised PTI-backed independents as a de facto parliamentary party — declaring PTI eligible for 39 reserved seats and positioning it as the largest party in the National Assembly. That ruling, however, was never implemented due to resistance from the National Assembly and legal objections from the ECP.
Review petitions challenging the July judgment were filed by the ECP, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) — the key beneficiaries of the latest verdict.
With PTI’s claim rejected, the reserved seats are now set to be distributed among parties, including the PML-N, PPP, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), and others, potentially altering the balance of power in legislative houses.
The PHC decision
The dispute traces back to the March 2024 ruling by the PHC, which rejected SIC’s plea for reserved seat allocations after the ECP found that the party failed to meet legal requirements, including the timely submission of lists for women and minority candidates. The ECP subsequently allocated the seats to other parties based on their strength in the assemblies, a decision contested by PTI and eventually overturned by the Supreme Court in July, only to be reversed again on Friday.
The political landscape now awaits the ECP’s final seat allocation decision, due within 15 days. With reserved seats out of reach for PTI, its legislative influence will be further diluted, raising fresh questions about the party’s future strategy and the fairness of institutional decisions post-election.
