The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has officially recognized 93 lawmakers from the Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh assemblies as “returned candidates” of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in accordance with the Supreme Court’s July 12 ruling concerning reserved seats. This decision revives the PTI’s presence in parliament.
This announcement follows the ECP’s earlier declaration of 39 PTI lawmakers from the National Assembly as affiliated with the PTI. These 132 members—93 from provincial assemblies and 39 from the National Assembly—had identified themselves as PTI members in their documents submitted to the ECP before the general elections.
The ECP’s notification, published on its website today, confirms that 29 PTI members from the Punjab Assembly, 58 from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, and six from the Sindh Assembly are now officially recognized as PTI members.
The Supreme Court’s landmark decision on July 12 deemed the former ruling party eligible for reserved seats for women and minorities in both national and provincial assemblies. Initially, these PTI members ran as independent candidates in the February 8 elections and later joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) based on PTI’s guidance, as independents are ineligible for reserved seats under the law.
Prior to the February 8 elections, the Supreme Court upheld the ECP’s decision to strip the PTI of its iconic ‘bat’ symbol, which temporarily deprived the PTI of its status as a political party. Although the PTI won the most seats in the elections, the ECP initially denied it reserved seats, a decision later supported by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) due to PTI’s failure to submit the required list of candidates for these seats on time.
On July 12, the Supreme Court overturned the ECP’s decision, declaring that PTI was and remains a political party entitled to reserved seats based on its general election victories. Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa led the Supreme Court full bench, which, by an 8-1 majority, nullified the Peshawar High Court’s March 25 judgment and deemed the ECP’s March 1 order unconstitutional and legally ineffective.
In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, the ECP conducted several sessions to review the verdict and announced its plan to implement the court’s decision. Anticipating that the PTI might become the largest party in the assemblies with the addition of the reserved seats, ruling coalition partners Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have filed a review petition with the Supreme Court against the reserved seats ruling.
