PESHAWAR: The recent Supreme Court ruling granting Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) reserved seats for women and minorities will profoundly affect five opposition parties in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. These parties, previously benefiting from Election Commission of Pakistan’s allocations, now face nullification of their notifications.
Affected parties include Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazal, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamentarians, Awami National Party, and PTI-Parliamentarians. Initially allocated seats under ECP’s March 1 decision, their entitlements are now redirected following the court’s order denying these seats to Sunni Ittehad Council, supported by PTI-backed independents.
Originally, the KP Assembly’s 26 reserved seats for women saw allocations of two each to JUI-F and PML-N, and one to PPPP. The subsequent March 1 ruling controversially awarded 21 seats to these five parties, with JUI-F receiving eight, PML-N six, PPPP five, and ANP and PTI-P one each.
Moreover, the ECP initially left all four non-Muslim reserved seats unallocated. However, after March 1, JUI-F secured two seats, and PML-N and PPP each gained one. Despite notifications, assembly oath-taking was halted pending Supreme Court stay orders suspending these notifications.
Now, PTI is poised to secure all 21 reserved seats for women and three non-Muslim seats following the apex court’s judgment. The fate of the fourth non-Muslim seat awaits ECP’s recalculations.
In the National Assembly, KP’s 10 reserved seats for women initially allocated one each to JUI-F and PML-N were revised by ECP’s March 1 order, granting PML-N four seats and JUI-F and PPPP two each. With SC’s verdict, PTI is set to claim all eight seats.
Before the February 2024 elections, PTI submitted priority lists, naming Maliha Ali Asghar Khan for NA seats and Mashal Azam, Uzma Riaz, and Fauzia Bibi for KP Assembly seats. For non-Muslim reserved seats, Wazir Zada was PTI’s sole nomination.
Currently, PTI-backed MPs hold 92 of KP Assembly’s 115 general seats, with Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur maintaining independent status. Other parties holding general seats include JUI-F and PML-N with seven each, PPPP with four, ANP with two, and PTIP with two, including PK-22 Bajaur’s recent win.
In the National Assembly, PML-N holds three seats, JUI-F two, PPPP one, and Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen one. Sunni Ittehad Council, supported by 34 PTI-backed independent MNAs, contrasts with three PTI leaders — Barrister Gohar Ali, Umer Ayub Khan, and Ali Asghar — and dissident Mubarik Zaib remaining independent.
