Peshawar HC returns Imran Khan’s party’s petition regarding reserved seats

Peshawar, Jul 14 (PTI) The Peshawar High Court on Monday returned a petition filed by jailed former premier Imran Khan’s party regarding reserved seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly, citing legal objections.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had formed the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following last year’s February 8 elections.

The petition was filed by PTI provincial general secretary Ali Asghar, seeking to nullify the Peshawar High Court’s decision dated March 25, 2024, concerning the allocation of reserved seats.

The petitioner argued that the PTI was not made a party in the original proceedings.

However, the court registrar returned the application, stating that the High Court's ruling had already been upheld and merged into the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench verdict.

The registrar noted that since the Supreme Court has already endorsed the High Court’s decision, PTI’s petition stands inadmissible and has been sent back with objections.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court last month ruled against awarding the reserved seats to an ally of the PTI, in a blow to Khan’s party.

The case was related to the rejection of a plea by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to award the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), an ally of the PTI, its share of the 70 reserved seats in the National Assembly and another 156 in the four provincial assemblies.

The seats reserved for women and minorities are proportionally awarded to the political parties on the basis of their numerical strength in the assemblies. Following the SC judgment, the ECP distributed reserved seats in the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it allotted 10 seats to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), seven to the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), six to the Pakistan Peoples Party and one each to the PTI and Awami National Party.

Khan’s party could not contest last year’s February 8 elections as the ECP rejected its intra-party elections and deprived it of its poll symbol, a cricket bat.

Hence, it was not eligible to claim the seats reserved for women and minorities that are awarded to the winning parties.

As a result, its candidates, who had won independently with the support of the PTI, were asked by the party leadership to join the SIC to claim the reserved seats. PTI AYZ GSP GSP