PTI loses reserved seats as SC overturns July 12 ruling

Islamabad
The Supreme Court of Pakistan has overturned its July 12 ruling regarding reserved seats, accepting review petitions and upholding the Peshawar High Court’s decision. As a result, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has lost its reserved seats, which will now be transferred to the government coalition.
The constitutional bench of the Supreme Court concluded hearings on the case of reserved seats on Friday. The hearing was conducted by a 10-member bench, instead of the originally planned 11-member bench, with Justice Aminuddin Khan presiding.
Following the hearing, the bench reserved its judgment and, after a short break, issued a concise written verdict of four pages. The decision was delivered by a majority of seven judges, including Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Justice Musarrat Hilali, Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, Justice Amir Farooq, Justice Hashim Kakar, and Justice Ali Baqir Najfi.
The bench, while accepting the review petitions, declared the July 12 verdict null and void, maintaining the Peshawar High Court’s ruling. The court accepted all the petitions filed against the July 12 decision, leading to PTI losing all its reserved seats in the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies.
Consequently, 22 National Assembly seats and 55 Provincial Assembly seats will be transferred to the government alliance.
Justice Jamal Mandokhel expressed his dissent, maintaining his stance on the allocation of 39 seats. Justices Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Hassan Azhar Rizvi approved conditional review petitions.
In their note, Justices Rizvi and Mazhar referred the matter of seat allocation to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), directing it to determine each party’s entitlement after examining the relevant record.
It is worth noting that the Peshawar High Court had earlier dismissed the SIC’s challenge to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision, which had refused to allocate reserved seats to the party.
Earlier, in its short order on July 12, 2024, eight out of 13 judges concluded that 39 out of 80 MNAs on the list were elected candidates of the PTI, positioning it as the largest party in the National Assembly.
However, the National Assembly has not yet implemented the ruling, and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has raised several objections.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and the ECP have submitted review petitions challenging the Supreme Court’s July 12 decision from last year.
The hearing was briefly adjourned for 10 minutes, but the bench has since resumed proceedings. The decision comes after objections were raised regarding his participation in the case.
Justice Panhwar, part of an 11-member bench, the decision came after Advocate Hamid Khan raised objections concerning the inclusion of judges appointed after the 26th Amendment. He explained that the objections had been directed at his inclusion in the bench, adding that the issue dated back to 2010.
He expressed that he was personally hurt by the objections but emphasised that his decision to step down was made to preserve the dignity of the court. He clarified that his recusal should not be interpreted as an acknowledgment of the objections raised.
Justice Panhwar further highlighted that lawyers Faisal Siddiqui and Salman Akram Raja had shown trust in the judges, which contributed to his decision to step down to protect the institution’s integrity.
Advocate Hamid Khan commended the decision, but Justice Aminuddin Khan reprimanded him, stating that his conduct was the reason for the situation.
Justice Jamal Mandokhail also remarked that two lawyers from the same party should not argue the case, stressing that they had extended the courtesy of allowing Khan to speak.
Despite the exchange of remarks, Hamid Khan maintained that he had the right to argue the case during the review session.
On Thursday, the CB turned down the request by one of PTI’s counsels to defer the hearing of the reserved seats case till August, noting that the bench intended to hear the case daily.
Earlier, PTI’s counsel advocate Salman Akram Raja resumed his arguments in support of the July 12, 2024, majority order of a full SC bench.
He referred to the SC judgment in the Sindh High Court Bar case, which, he said, serves as an example of how the SC can intervene for the restoration of the Constitution.