Supreme Court Grants Reserved Seats to Imran Khan’s Ally

Pakistan's Supreme Court has awarded reserved seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), an ally of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan. The decision overturned a previous Peshawar High Court ruling and addressed the apportionment of reserved seats for women and minorities among political parties. The verdict was delivered by a 13-member bench.

In a landmark verdict, Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday granted reserved seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), an ally of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, in a case concerning the allocation of seats reserved for women and minorities among political parties.

The SIC had challenged the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision to deny them their share in reserved seats, a judgment initially upheld by the Peshawar High Court (PHC). A 13-member full bench, led by Chief Justice Isa, heard the arguments and reserved the judgment for mutual consultation earlier this week.

On Friday, the panel, with a majority of eight justices, overturned the PHC's decision, delivering judgment in favor of the SIC. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah announced the verdict. This ruling included seats from the 70 reserved for the National Assembly and 156 in the four provincial assemblies. The decision affects candidates who had initially won independently but were supported by Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.