The Supreme Court has restored 77 reserved seats in the National and Provincial Assemblies after accepting review petitions. These petitions challenged the earlier decision that had granted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) the reserved seats. The court canceled that order and upheld the ruling of the Peshawar High Court.
As a result of this verdict, 77 women and minority seats have been reinstated. These include 11 women’s seats in Punjab and 8 women’s and 3 minority seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the National Assembly. Now, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will receive 14 seats, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) 5, and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) 3 in the National Assembly.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, 21 women’s and 4 minority seats have been restored. JUI-F will receive 10 seats, PML-N 7, PPP 7, and Awami National Party (ANP) will get one reserved seat. This decision has significantly changed the balance in the provincial legislature.
In Punjab Assembly, 24 women’s and 3 minority seats are reinstated. Of these, PML-N gets 23 seats, PPP 2, while Pakistan Muslim League and Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) receive one seat each. This boosts PML-N’s position in the Punjab Assembly.
In Sindh Assembly, 2 women’s and 1 minority seat have been restored. PPP will get 2 of these, while Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) will receive one. This latest development reshapes the representation in assemblies and weakens PTI’s previous claim over the reserved seats.