ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has accepted review petitions challenging the decision to allocate reserved seats to the PTI, declaring the earlier verdict by the Peshawar High Court void.
In consequence of the verdict, four women from Chitral have reached the assemblies on the reserved seats. They are: Ghazala Anjum of PML-N, Nilofer Babar of the PPP, Khadija Bibi of ANP and Arifa Bibi of JUI-F.
As a result of the apex court ruling, PTI will no longer be entitled to the reserved seats previously awarded to it.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, a total of 77 reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies have been restored to other political parties.
In the National Assembly, 11 reserved seats for women from Punjab, eight for women and three for minorities from KP have been reinstated. These will now be distributed among other political parties as follows:
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N): 14 seats
Pakistan People\’s Party (PPP): five seats
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F): three seats
In the KP Assembly, 21 seats for women and four for minorities have been reinstated. Distribution includes:
JUI-F: 10 seats
PML-N: seven seats
PPP: seven seats
Awami National Party (ANP): one seat
In the Punjab Assembly, 24 women’s seats and three minority seats have been reinstated:
PML-N: 23 seats
PPP: two seats
Pakistan Muslim League (PML): one seat
Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP): one seat
In the Sindh Assembly, two women’s seats and one minority seat have been restored:
PPP: two seats
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM): one seat
The verdict significantly alters the political landscape, especially in the assemblies where balance of power is influenced by these reserved seats.