PTI reacts to SC decision in reserved seats case

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has reacted to the Supreme Court (SC) Constitutional Bench’s ruling on the reserved seats review case, maintaining that the party’s constitutional right has once again been ‘unjustly stripped away’.

In a statement released by the PTI spokesperson, the party said that the Supreme Court’s decision on July 12 last year had ‘recognised’ PTI’s constitutional entitlement to reserved seats.

“However, today’s verdict has crushed the spirit of justice,” the Imran Khan-led party said.

According to the PTI, its seats were seized and distributed like ‘spoils of war’, following the earlier deprivation of the party’s electoral symbol. “Every door has been shut on us, but they cannot lock our hearts and voices,” it added.

The SC’s Constitutional Bench on Friday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council’s plea, seeking reserved seats in the national and all provincial assemblies on the basis of its general seats.

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The bench, headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, set aside the apex court’s earlier judgment and restored the Peshawar High Court ruling that ruled that the reserved seats would be distributed among other parties.

This includes the restoration of eight women National Assembly members from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11 women members on reserved seats Assembly from Punjab as well as three non-Muslim seats.

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz secured 14 seats in the National Assembly, while the Pakistan People’s Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl managed to get five and three reserved seats in the lower house.

The PML-N emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the ruling, securing 44 seats across the National Assembly and three provincial assemblies.