Supreme Court Rejects Plea to Enforce Allocation of 39 Reserved Seats to PTI

Islamabad: The constitutional bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan has rejected a plea to enforce its earlier decision regarding the allocation of 39 reserved seats to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
During the hearing, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar questioned whether the Election Commission had officially declared the 39 members as belonging to PTI. Advocate Faisal Siddiqi argued that despite the declaration, the proportional allocation of reserved seats had not been implemented in accordance with the court’s decision.
The Director General Law of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) stated that reserved seats would be allocated based on a formula applied to all total seats, but added that no seats had yet been distributed to any party. Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi inquired whether other parties had been granted their share of seats, to which the DG Law replied, “Not yet.”
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail noted that based on a proportion of 80 seats, PTI would be entitled to around 22 or 23 reserved seats. Justice Mazhar further questioned why the seats were not allocated proportionally after the 39 members had been officially declared PTI affiliates.
The ECP’s lawyer argued that according to a law passed by Parliament, once political affiliation is declared in nomination papers, it cannot be changed. He also mentioned that this law was being applied retrospectively and that the ECP had already filed a review petition on the matter, which is currently pending.
Advocate Faisal Siddiqi warned that failure to implement the court’s decision raises serious concerns about the future of the Supreme Court itself.