PTI Wins Reserved Seats
In a major legal victory for Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, a 13-member full bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa annulled the Peshawar High Court's decision upholding the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) move to deny its share in reserved seats in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies.
The bench also declared the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan “null and void”, terming it “against the Constitution of Pakistan”.
The PTI will emerge as the largest party in the National Assembly as its seats will likely soar from 86 to 109 after it gains 23 reserved seats.
“The withdrawal of election symbol cannot disqualify a political party from elections,” the court declared, referring to the election commission not allowing the PTI to use the cricket bat as its election symbol. “The PTI was and is a political party,” the bench ruled.
The dispute about the reserved seats was related to the rejection of a SIC plea by the ECP to award its share in the 70 reserved seats in the National Assembly and another 156 in the four provincial assemblies.
PTI could not contest the February 8 elections as the ECP rejected its intra-party elections and deprived it of its iconic 'bat' symbol for contesting the elections as a party.
Hence, it was not eligible to claim the seats reserved for women and minorities awarded to the winning parties based on proportional representation.
So its candidates, who had won independently but with the support of PTI, were asked by the party's leadership to join the SIC to form a parliamentary party to claim reserved seats.
The final ruling by the top court in the case changes in the overall number game in the assemblies will impact the law-making in the country.
Imran Khan’s Message after the court decision:
"Allah is Al Haq!
I have repeatedly raised concerns about the prejudice exhibited by the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan against me and PTI. Today's Supreme Court decision—establishing the ECP’s bias and malafide against PTI —reinforces our stance. We demand criminal proceedings under Article 6 of the Constitution against all those responsible for disenfranchising millions of voters and supporters of Pakistan’s largest political party.
Sikandar Sultan Raja and the ECP members must resign immediately!
Also, I would reiterate that Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Esa must distance himself from the cases involving me or PTI."