The provincial government in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa faces an existential threat in wake of the Supreme Court decision on Friday declaring the PTI party ineligible for reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies.
The Supreme Court's Constitutional Bench ruled against awarding the reserved seats to an ally of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in a blow to the jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party.
Seats are reserved for women and minorities and awarded to the political parties in proportion to their numerical strength in the respective assemblies.
In February 2024, Khan's PTI could not contest the general elections as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had rejected its intra-party elections and deprived it of its poll symbol, a cricket bat. 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.
Of the total 145 seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly, 25 seats are reserved, 21 for women and 4 for minorities. All of them are currently vacant.
PTI leader Ali Amin Gandapur is the chief minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province with his government enjoying the backing of 93 members in the assembly of 145 seats.
These 98 members include 58 independents, who were previously affiliated with the PTI but are now sitting as independents in the House, and 35 independents, who won with the support of the PTI banner.
In the opposition are Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) each with nine members; the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) with five, while the Awami National Party (ANP) and PTI-Parliamentarians have two seats each, bringing the total strength to 27.
“Should the vacant reserved seats be allocated in accordance with constitutional provisions, the opposition’s strength could rise to 52. If the 35 independents, then align themselves with the opposition, their combined tally would reach 88 well above the majority threshold of 73 required to form a government,” said noted lawyer Salim Shah Hoti.
Crucially, since these independents are not formally affiliated with any political party, their decision to vote against the government or support the opposition would not trigger Article 63(A) of the Constitution, which deals with defection, he explained.
“This legal loophole has elevated the strategic value of the independent lawmakers, making their support a key to both the survival of the current government and the formation of any alternative ruling coalition,” Hoti added.
Meanwhile, reacting to the verdict, the PTI, in a post on X, termed the decision as “the funeral of constitutional, judicial traditions, and justice.” PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Khan said he was disappointed by the “injustice and the violation of the Constitution.” “I’m disappointed. This is a huge injustice. For the PTI, it seems that the shadow of Qazi Faez Esa still lurks in the Supreme Court,” he said while speaking to Geo News.
Esa, the former chief justice of Pakistan, had denied allotment of bat symbol to the PTI ahead of the February 2024 general elections.
“The right that has been snatched from us is a huge injustice. The framers of the Constitution could not have imagined that a party would get more seats than it won,” he said, adding, the PTI deserved to get the reserved seats. “They belong to the PTI, and it is our right.”
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