Supreme Court Rules in Favor of PTI for Reserved Seats Allocation

In a significant legal victory for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the party is eligible for the allocation of reserved seats. The 8-5 majority verdict, announced by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, overturns the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) order which had upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to deny the reserved seats to PTI.

Justices Athar Minallah, Shahid Waheed, Muneeb Akhtar, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha Malik, Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, and Irfan Saadat Khan supported the decision in favor of PTI.

The Supreme Court’s verdict clarified that the lack or denial of an election symbol does not impact a political party’s constitutional or legal rights to participate in elections and field candidates. The court emphasized that the ECP has a constitutional duty to apply all statutory provisions accordingly.

“PTI was and is a political party, which secured general seats in the national and provincial assemblies in the general elections of 2024,” stated the verdict.

Addressing the unique circumstances of the February 8 polls, the court specified that out of the 80 candidates, any candidate listed as PTI in any one of the columns on the forms will be considered a PTI candidate.