ISLAMABAD: Jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has approached the Supreme Court (SC) to enforce its ruling regarding the allocation of reserved seats.
The petition, filed by Advocate Azhar Bhandari, requests the court to direct the Election Commission to act upon the short order issued on July 12 and to issue certificates of affiliation to independent candidates.
The plea also seeks dismissal of the Election Commission’s request for clarification on the verdict, arguing that the delay in implementing the ruling has been undue.
Supreme Court Verdict
A 13-member bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, ruled that PTI is entitled to the allocation of reserved seats, challenging the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led ruling coalition.
The Pakistan top court had overturned the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) decision that had upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) denial of reserved seats to the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
Justices Qazi Faez Isa, Jamal Mandokhail, Naeem Afghan, Yahya Afridi, and Ameenuddin Khan dissented from the majority opinion.
Issue of Reserved Seats
The controversy over reserved seats surfaced after more than 80 independent candidates supported by PTI won the February 8 elections. The SIC approached the ECP on February 21 to claim these seats.
The PTI faced a setback when the ECP, citing a failure to submit a candidate list on time, denied the reserved seats allocation in a 4-1 majority decision on March 4. The ECP subsequently distributed the reserved seats for women and minorities to other political parties.
Following the ECP’s denial, the SIC appealed to the Supreme Court after the Peshawar High Court upheld the ECP’s decision.
In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, the ECP allocated one reserved seat each to Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Pakistan (JUI-P), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). In the Sindh Assembly, reserved seats for women were allocated to Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and PPP, with PPP’s Samita Afzal and MQM-P’s Fouzia Hameed elected.
The PHC ruling allowed the ruling coalition, including PML-N, PPP, and their allies, to secure a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, increasing PML-N’s seats to 123 and PPP’s to 73, while SIC held 82 seats.
