The coalition government still maintains a majority. Azam Nazeer Tarar’s response to the Supreme Court’s ruling

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) achieved a significant legal triumph today when the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan overruled the decision to deny reserved seats to the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council.

Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar stated during a news conference in Islamabad today that the government is not facing any difficulties as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

According to him, the ruling coalition holds a decisive majority in both the National and Punjab Assemblies. He emphasized that the government successfully passed the finance bill for the year 2024-25 with a significant majority.

The Law Minister stated that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was not involved in the case and did not request any form of assistance. According to him, the Sunni Ittehad Council was the organization that filed a lawsuit for the reserved seats.

In response to a query, the Law Minister stated that it is the responsibility of the political parties, who have been impacted by the ruling, to determine whether or not to file a review petition.

Ruling of the Supreme Court

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah delivered the ruling with a majority of 8-5 on a petition submitted by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which is an ally of the PTI.

Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Shahid Waheed, Muneeb Akhtar, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha Malik, Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, and Irfan Saadat Khan all ruled in support of the PTI.

The Supreme Court invalidated the decision of the Peshawar High Court, which had previously upheld the Election Commission’s ruling to deny the reserved seats to the SIC.

The Supreme Court, in its ruling, declared that the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to assign reserved seats to the ruling coalition was illegal.

The court approved SIC’s petition and determined that the party is qualified to receive the allocation of reserved seats. The highest court acknowledged the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as a political party and directed the party lead by Imran Khan to provide the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) with a list of candidates for reserved seats within a period of 15 days.

The ruling stated that candidates from the PTI cannot be classified as independent candidates or representatives of any other party. It further mentioned that the ECP had made an erroneous declaration by categorizing PTI members as independents.

On Tuesday, the court concluded the hearing on a series of appeals filed by the SIC and withheld its decision.

The full bench, presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) ISA, includes Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.

Issue regarding the allocation of reserved seats

The controversy surrounding reserved seats gained attention following the success of more than 80 independent candidates supported by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the February 8 elections.

On February 21, the SIC contacted the ECP to request the allotment of reserved seats.

Nevertheless, the PTI faced a setback when the electoral board, based on the party’s failure to submit its list of candidates, refused to allocate the reserved seats to the SIC through its 4-1 majority judgment on March 4.

The electoral commission allocated the reserved seats for women and minorities to other political parties.