PESHAWAR: The Supreme Court’s decision to award reserved assembly seats for women and minorities to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) will significantly impact five opposition parties in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly that had previously benefited from the Election Commission of Pakistan’s March 1 ruling.

The affected parties include Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazal, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamentarians, Awami National Party, and PTI-Parliamentarians, which were allocated reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies through various ECP notifications, which stand nullified, now.

They are the beneficiaries of the ECP’s order to deny those seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council, which was joined by the PTI-backed independent lawmakers.

Initially, out of the KP Assembly’s 26 seats reserved for women, the ECP allocated two each to the JUI-F and PML-N, and one to the PPPP.

PTI likely to get all 21 women’s seats in PA, three of non-Muslims

However, its March 1 decision led to the award of the controversial 21 reserved seats to these five parties with the JUI-F getting eight, PML-N six, PPPP five and the ANP and PTI-P one each.

Also, the ECP initially didn’t allot any of the four seats reserved for non-Muslims in the provincial assembly to any party. However, after the March 1 order, it allotted two of the seats to the JUI-F and one each to the PML-N and PPP.

Despite the allocation of the controversial reserved seats to different parties in the assembly, the MPAs-elect didn’t take oath as after their respective notifications, the assembly wasn’t convened until the Supreme Court issued a stay order and suspended their notifications.

Now after the apex court’s judgement, there is a high likelihood of the PTI getting all 21 seats reserved for women and three for non-Muslims.

However, the fate of the fourth seat reserved for non-Muslims will be clear after the ECP’s calculation in accordance with the relevant formula.

Similarly, KP has 10 reserved seats for women in the National Assembly. Of them, the notification of eight has been set aside by the Supreme Court’s decision.

Initially, one of these seats was allotted to the JUI-F and PML-N each.

The ECP, after its March 1 order, awarded four seats to the PML-N and two each to JUI-F and PPPP.

Now, after the SC’s verdict, the PTI is entitled to the NA’s eight reserved seats.

Prior to the Feb 2024 general elections, the PTI submitted its priority lists for the reserved seats in the province.

In its list of 10 of the reserved seats for women in the NA from KP, the party had given only the name of Maliha Ali Asghar Khan.

Similarly, for the 26 women reserved seats in the KP Assembly, the PTI issued a list of three candidates, including Mashal Azam, presently serving as an adviser to the chief minister, Uzma Riaz and Fauzia Bibi.

In its list of the seats reserved for non-Muslims, the PTI named Wazir Zada, a former MPA from Chitral, only.

Currently, 92 of the assembly’s 115 general seats are held by the PTI-backed MPAs, who joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).

However, Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur didn’t join the council and maintained his independent status.

As for the other parties holding general seats, the JUI-F and PML-N have seven each, PPPP four, and ANP two, including the one who won on PK-22 Bajaur on July 11, and PTIP two.

Moreover, out of the 45 National Assembly’s general seats in KP, three are held by PML-N, two by the JUI-F, and one each by the PPPP and Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen.

The SIC was joined by 34 of the PTI-backed independent MNAs, whereas three of the PTI leaders opted to remain independent, including its chairman Barrister Gohar Ali, secretary general Umer Ayub Khan and Ali Asghar. Similarly, PTI dissident Mubarik Zaib is an independent MNA from Bajaur tribal district.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2024