The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday declared Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) eligible for seats reserved for women and minorities.
The verdict was announced by a 13-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
The ruling coalition has lost two-thirds majority in the lower house of the Parliament (NA), however, they still enjoy the simple majority with 210 seats in the house. The opposition will have 125 seats.
Following the Supreme Court verdict, PTI is likely to get 65 out of 77 reserved seats in National Assembly and provincial assemblies, respectively.
Read more: Supreme Court declares PTI eligible for reserved seats
Of the 77 seats, 23 are of the National Assembly while 55 are of the provincial assemblies.
PTI’s probable reserved seats in Punjab
27 seats would be added to the PTI’s tally in Punjab – 24 women and 3 minorities.
PTI seats in KP
25 seats would be added to the PTI’s tally in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – 21 women and four minorities.
PTI’s seats in Sindh
PTI is likely to get three seats in Sindh – two women, one minority seat.
Reserved seats issue
The issue came to 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 seats for women and minorities among other political parties.
Read more: PTI ‘committed suicide’ by joining SIC, says CJP Isa
The PTI-backed SIC had approached the court after the ECP refused to allocate the 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.
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