Pakistan's election body strips Khan’s party of reserved seats in major boost to rivals

Pakistan’s top election body issued a notification on Wednesday restoring dozens of reserved seats for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies, implementing a Supreme Court decision that stripped jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of its claim to the seats.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), in its second meeting on the matter, implemented the June 27, 2025, Supreme Court decision to strip the PTI of its reserved seats on technical grounds. As a result, the commission has restored 77 reserved seats to political parties other than the PTI.

The ECP withdrew its July 24 and July 29, 2024, notifications that had declared PTI-backed candidates successful on general seats in the national and provincial assemblies. These notifications are now considered null and void, and the corresponding reserved seats have been reassigned to other parties.

Reserved seats restored

According to the revised notification, a total of 77 reserved seats across the National Assembly and three provincial assemblies—Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa—have been restored to rival political parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

In the National Assembly, 19 reserved seats have been reinstated: 13 for the PML-N, four for the PPP, and two for the JUI-F.

Punjab’s provincial assembly saw the restoration of 27 reserved seats—24 for women and three for non-Muslim members. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly had 25 seats restored—21 for women and four for minorities—while Sindh’s Assembly had three seats reinstated—two for women and one for a minority member.

The National Assembly distribution includes 13 seats to the PML-N, four to the PPP, and two to the JUI-F.

Among the provincial assemblies, the PML-N received the largest share with 44 restored seats. In KP, JUI-F secured 10, PML-N seven, PPP six, and one seat each went to the Awami National Party (ANP) and PTI Parliamentarians (PTI-P).

Punjab Assembly saw 23 seats returned to the PML-N, two to PPP, and one each to the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q). In Sindh, the PPP regained two seats and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) one.

Court-ordered reversal

The ECP cited the Supreme Court’s decision as the legal basis for revoking the previous notifications. The court had ruled in favor of the ECP, PML-N, and PPP in their review petitions against an earlier decision that had allocated reserved seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which had accepted dozens of PTI-backed independents following the February 2024 elections.

That earlier judgment, issued in July 2024, had held that the 39 independents who joined SIC were entitled to additional reserved seats. However, the recent verdict declared SIC ineligible, reinstating the original formula that excluded the PTI.

According to the ECP, the reinstated seats were allocated based on pre-submitted party lists in accordance with election law, which SIC failed to submit before the election.

Wider implications

The ruling comes amid heightened political tensions, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where a court on Tuesday barred 25 lawmakers—elected on SIC-affiliated PTI tickets—from taking oath as members of the provincial assembly.

The Peshawar High Court has asked the ECP to submit a written explanation after a petition by PTI Parliamentarians alleged the commission miscalculated reserved seat allocations.

The petition cited the same Supreme Court ruling as evidence that the PTI-P should have received additional seats.

“The government now has the numbers not just to pass laws but to amend the constitution at will,” senior journalist Kamran Khan said in his earlier vlog, calling the court ruling a watershed moment for parliamentary supremacy.

Before the decision, the ruling alliance held 218 seats in the National Assembly. That number will now increase to 235 — comfortably above the 224 required for a constitutional majority.

Changing dynamics

With the decision now final, speculation grows over how the internal dynamics of the ruling alliance might shift. While the PML-N gains the most, questions remain over the PPP’s future bargaining power within the coalition.

“Some say the PPP’s ability to ‘blackmail’ the government may now diminish,” said Khan, referring to the party’s frequent leverage tactics on budget allocations and legal reforms. “But the numbers still don’t give the PML-N an outright simple majority without them.”

The PML-N has 123 seats. Even with the MQM-P and smaller parties contributing 34 more, the tally reaches just 157 — still 12 short of the 169 needed for a simple majority. Unless it draws support from at least 10 PTI-affiliated independents, sidelining the PPP may not be viable.

Khan said that the ruling may also diminish the traditional role of smaller parties like the MQM-P, PML-Q, and BAP — often seen as kingmakers — by consolidating power between the two dominant coalition partners.

Still, the biggest blow falls on the PTI, already reeling from internal disarray and legal troubles. Its leadership remains largely imprisoned since the May 9 riots, and its parliamentary strategy lies in tatters.

Several PTI lawmakers face potential disqualification if convicted in May 9-related cases, with the Supreme Court setting Aug. 8 as the deadline for verdicts.

“If those convictions go through, the PTI could lose even more ground in parliament,” Kamran Khan warned.