Supreme Court declares PTI ineligible for reserved seats

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has overturned the earlier decision to give reserved seats to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and declared the previous order invalid. This new verdict was announced by a 7-6 majority decision, keeping the Peshawar High Court’s ruling in place.

With this ruling, the reserved seats for women and minorities will now go to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and other allied parties.

The case was about whether PTI, which had candidates win as independents in the 2024 general elections, was eligible to get reserved seats. Earlier, on 12 July 2024, a full bench of 13 judges had ruled in PTI’s favour by an 8-5 majority. However, multiple review petitions were filed later by PML-N, PPP, and the Election Commission.

The Supreme Court held 17 hearings on the review petitions. On 6 May, Justice Ayesha Malik and Justice Aqeel Abbasi had rejected the petitions and stepped away from the case. On the 17th hearing, Justice Salahuddin Panhwar also excused himself from further hearings.

Today, after hearing final arguments from the Attorney General, the hearing was completed, and Justice Aminuddin Khan, who led the constitutional bench, announced the short order.

Lawyers Salahuddin Akram Raja represented PTI, while Faisal Siddiqi and Hamid Khan argued on behalf of Sunni Ittehad Council. The Election Commission, PML-N, and PPP also submitted written statements in court.

This decision is a major development and shifts the balance of reserved seats in the assemblies in favour of the ruling coalition parties.