SC dismisses plea to allocate reserved seats to PTI lawmakers

ISLAMABAD: The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan has rejected the request to enforce its decision regarding the allocation of seats to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for 39 members of the National Assembly.

During the hearing, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar remarked, “has the Election Commission declared all 39 members as belonging to PTI?” Advocate Faisal Siddiqi argued that PTI was not allotted seats proportionally with respect to the 39 members.

The Director General (Law) of the Election Commission stated that seats would be allotted based on an overall formula. Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi questioned, “Have these seats already been allotted to others?” To this, the DG Law replied, “No, seats have not been given to anyone yet.”

Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail noted that based on the ratio of 80 seats, around 22 or 23 reserved seats should be allocated. Justice Mazhar further questioned, “If 39 members have been declared as part of PTI, then why haven’t the reserved seats been allocated according to that proportion?”

The Election Commission’s lawyer argued that Parliament had enacted a law stating that once a political affiliation is declared in the nomination papers, it cannot be changed. He added that the law was applied retrospectively, and a review petition on the matter is still pending.

Later, the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench formally dismissed the request to enforce its decision regarding the allocation of reserved seats to PTI for the 39 assembly members.