PTI set to become single largest party in Pakistan parliament

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is set to become the single largest party in the country’s parliament following the Supreme Court’s judgement declaring the PTI eligible for reserved seats.

The ruling coalition is projected to lose its two-thirds majority, reports the Dawn.

The number of PTI lawmakers, including those previously identified as PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) candidates, totals 92. With an additional 22 reserved seats in the House—previously allocated by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to three different political parties—PTI’s numbers will rise to 114.

The opposition in the National Assembly will now have a total of 125 members, which includes eight members who had not joined SIC. These members are PTI Chairman Barrister Ali Gohar, Leader of the Opposition Omar Ayub Khan, Ali Asghar Khan, Aslam Ghumman, Mubarak Zeb, Usman Ali, Zahoor Qureshi, and Aurangzeb Khichi. The opposition also consists of Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) with eight seats, and PkMAP, BNP-M, and MWM with one seat each.

The ruling coalition’s strength will remain at 209, falling short of the 224 seats required to maintain a two-thirds majority in the 336-member House. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) now holds 108 seats, with 84 elected on general seats, 20 on reserved seats for women, and four on seats reserved for minorities. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has 68 members, with 54 on general seats, 12 on reserved seats for women, and two on reserved seats for minorities. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has 21 members, including 17 on general seats and the rest on reserved seats for women. The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) holds five seats, four on general seats and one reserved for women. The Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) has four seats, three general and one reserved for women.

The Supreme Court suspended the Peshawar High Court’s judgement that deprived the PTI-backed SIC of reserved seats for women and minorities. Consequently, the ECP suspended the victory notifications of 77 members of the national and provincial assemblies elected on these seats. This suspension affected 44 members from PML-N, 15 from PPP, 13 from JUI-F, and one each from PML-Q, IPP, PTI-P, MQM-P, and ANP. These included 22 members of the National Assembly elected on reserved seats for women and minorities, comprising 14 from PML-N, five from PPP, and three from JUI-F.

Source: Dawn