PTI largest party in NA after SC decision

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is set to become the largest party in the National Assembly with 114 seats following the Supreme Court’s verdict declaring it eligible for the reserved seats of women and non-Muslims.

At present, there are 92 PTI-backed MNAs, including 84 under the umbrella of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and eight lawmakers, including the Opposition Leader Omar Ayub Khan, as independent members.

Following the allocation of the remaining 22 reserved seats (19 women and three minorities) to be given to PTI, the strength of the party will increase to 114, making it the largest party in the National Assembly once the ECP implements the SC verdict.

As a result, the strength of the opposition will increase from 103 to 125, while the government numbers will stay at 209. A decision on two reserved seats, including one seat for women from KP and a seat for non-Muslims from Sindh, is still pending. However, the incumbent allied government will certainly have no threat with the increase in the number of PTI parliamentarians in the National Assembly. However, it won’t be close to a two-thirds majority in the House required to amend the Constitution.

The government’s strength includes 108 MNAs from PMLN, 68 from PPPP, 21 from MQM, five from Pakistan Muslim League, four from Istehkam Pakistan Party, and one member each from PML-Zia, Balochistan National Party and National Party. Statistics at the same time show that the PPPP with its 68 members in the National Assembly could make or break a government in the Centre.

At present, the opposition’s strength in the National Assembly is 103, including 84 members from SIC, eight independent members, eight JUI-P parliamentarians and one MNA each from Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen, Balochistan National Party (BNP) and Mahmood Khan Achakzai’s Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party. The independent members include Omar Ayub Khan, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Mubarak Zeb, Ali Asghar Khan, Muhammad Aslam Ghumman, Usman Ali, Zahoor Hussain Qureshi and Aurangzeb Khan Khichi. The PTI-backed SIC will also secure 21 reserved seats for women and three reserved minority seats in the Punjab Assembly, taking the tally from existing to 104 to 129.

Similarly, the PTI-backed independent group, which is the Gandapur-led government in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, will secure 21 women reserved and four minorities seats, taking the total from the existing 93 to 118 against the 25 opposition members from different parties.

The PTI-supported independent group in the Sindh Assembly will get two women and one minority reserved seats. Currently, there are nine independent members, 117 members from Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians, 37 MQM members and a Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) member in the House of Sindh Assembly.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) suspended the membership of over 77 returned candidates on reserved seats, including 22 seats in the National Assembly, Punjab Assembly, KP Assembly and Sindh in the second week of May. In a notification issued on May 13, it said the decision was made according to the Supreme Court’s May 6 order wherein it had suspended the verdict of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) denying the SIC reserved seats for women and minorities. These seats were previously denied to the PTI-backed SIC.

The lawmakers whose membership was suspended included 44 from the PMLN, 15 from the PPP, 13 from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) and one each from MQM-P, Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party, Awami National Party, Pakistan Muslim League and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians.

In the KP Assembly, 21 lawmakers on reserved seats for women and 4 on minorities were de-notified. Similarly in the Punjab Assembly, 24 women lawmakers and three minority MPAs got their membership suspended.

According to the notification, in the National Assembly, 22 MNAs elected on reserved seats were suspended, including 19 women members, 11 from Punjab and eight from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This included suspension of four women seats of the PMLN, two each from JUI and PPP. Furthermore, the membership of three minority members in the National Assembly was suspended.