On Saturday, three members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) affected by the Supreme Court’s recent decision filed a review petition with the apex court. Huma Akhtar Chughtai, Mah Jabeen Abbasi, and Syeda Amnah Batool are requesting the court to nullify the short majority decision made on July 12.
On July 13, a full-bench Supreme Court ruled in favor of awarding the reserved seats, including those for minorities and women, to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). This decision overturned the Peshawar High Court and the Election Commission of Pakistan’s previous orders, which had allocated these seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council.
According to the majority opinion, read by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and announced by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, PTI had won general seats in the 2024 general elections. The petition challenges this ruling, arguing that the Sunni Ittehad Council did not submit a list for the reserved seats, and thus, the allocation to PTI should be deemed invalid.
The petitioners assert that allowing 41 members to switch parties and altering the allocation process amounts to “rewriting” the Constitution and deviates from established legal principles. They request that the court declare the July 12 decision as “unconstitutional,” contending that it contravenes established constitutional interpretation principles and may constitute an attempt to amend rather than interpret the Constitution.
