On Friday, the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench dismissed the petitions submitted by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) concerning the reserved seats case, thus determining that the party will not be eligible for such seats in the national and provincial assemblies.
While reaffirming the decision of the Peshawar High Court, the Supreme Court invalidated the decision made on July 12 to allocate reserved seats to the PTI.
This verdict was delivered by a 10-member bench led by Justice Aminuddin Khan on Friday.
The bench ruled by a 7-3 majority, overturning the Supreme Court’s previous judgment dated July 12, 2024. The Justices voting in favor of upholding the Peshawar High Court’s decision included Aminuddin Khan, Mussarat Hilali, Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, Amir Farooq, and Aleem Hakim Najafi.
‘All review petitions are granted. The impugned majority judgment dated July 12, 2024, is hereby set aside. Petitions filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) are dismissed, and the verdict of the Peshawar High Court is reinstated,’ stated Justice Khan while announcing the brief order.
The bench also specified that detailed reasoning would be provided subsequently, with the potential for further clarification.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, while concurring with the decision to allow the review petitions, maintained his earlier stance on the 39 reserved seats but revised his opinion concerning 41 seats, as outlined in the short order.
As a result of the ruling, the 39 reserved seats, earlier claimed by PTI-backed candidates contesting under the banner of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), will now be distributed among other parliamentary parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), and others.
Reacting strongly to the verdict, PTI described the judgment as “the funeral of constitutional, judicial traditions, and justice” in a post on social media platform X.