- PTI-P files the plea, saying it was wrongfully granted only one women’s reserved seat
PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday issued a restraining order, temporarily barring the oath-taking on reserved seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr. Khurshid Iqbal heard the petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTI-P) challenging the allocation of reserved seats.
The petitioner’s counsel, Advocate Sultan Muhammad Khan, argued that the Election Commission miscalculated the allocation of reserved seats, stating that PTI-P, which held two general seats in the provincial assembly, was wrongfully granted only one women’s reserved seat.
When questioned by the bench, the lawyer confirmed that PTI-P had submitted its priority list for the reserved seats. He further maintained that PTI-P was entitled to two women’s seats and one minority seat.
The petitioner requested that the oath-taking of members on these disputed reserved seats be halted. In response, the court issued notices to the Election Commission and directed that no oath be administered to the concerned members until the next hearing.
On Friday, the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench ruled that the Pakistan PTI was not entitled to seats reserved for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies. The court, in a 7-3 majority decision, accepted the review petitions, nullifying the July 12 judgment while upholding the decision of the Peshawar High Court.
“Initially, this Constitutional Bench was constituted for the hearing of the aforesaid review petitions by 13 honorable judges of this court, but two of them—Justice Ayesha A. Malik and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi—on the first date of hearing dismissed all the review petitions,” the short order read. “For detailed reasons to be recorded later, by majority of seven, all civil review petitions are allowed and the impugned majority judgment dated July 12, 2024, is set aside,” the order read.
“As a consequence thereof, Civil Appeals number 333 of 2024 and 334 of 2024 filed by the SIC are dismissed, and the judgment rendered by the Peshawar High Court is restored.”
The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) petitioned the Supreme Court of Pakistan, requesting that the final decision in the reserved seats review case be reissued as an order of the court bearing signatures from all 12 judges of the bench.
On the other hand, an important meeting was held at the Election Commission headquarters in Islamabad under the chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.
The legal team briefed the commission on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling regarding the allocation of 76 reserved seats previously withdrawn from PTI.
But the ECP’s meeting today about the implementation of the Supreme Court’s decision has ended without taking any final decision. The next ECP meeting will be held tomorrow.
It is pertinent to mention here that, according to the SC decision, these reserved seats are to be reallocated to other political parties.
As per the decision, 21 reserved seats in the National Assembly, including 3 minority seats, will be restored. From Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 8 women’s seats in the National Assembly will be reinstated, while Punjab will see the return of 10 women’s reserved seats.
In the Punjab Assembly, 24 women and 3 minority seats will be restored, while the Sindh Assembly will reinstate 2 women and 1 minority member. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly will see the restoration of 21 women’s and 4 minority seats.
Party-wise, the National Assembly will reinstate 14 seats for PML-N, 4 for PPP, and 3 for JUI-F. Across the National and three provincial assemblies, PML-N will recover the most seats—44 in total.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly will see the reinstatement of 10 seats for JUI-F, 7 for PML-N, 6 for PPP, and one each for ANP and PTI-P. In the Punjab Assembly, 23 seats will go to PML-N, 2 to PPP, and one each to PML-Q and Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party.
From Sindh, MQM will regain one seat and PPP two. Nationwide, JUI-F will reclaim 13 seats, PPP 14, MQM 1, and one seat each will go to IPP, PML-Q, ANP, and PTI-P.
