The Supreme Court’s constitutional bench on Friday has accepted the review petitions regarding reserved seats, nullifying the earlier verdict that had favoured Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

While upholding the decision of the Peshawar High Court, the apex court, by a majority decision of seven judges, declared the July 12 ruling—which had ordered the allocation of reserved seats to PTI—as void.

With this decision, PTI stands deprived of 22 National Assembly and 55 Provincial Assembly reserved seats, which will now be allocated to parties within the ruling coalition.

A 10-member constitutional bench, headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, heard the case. During the proceedings, prominent lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan presented arguments on behalf of the petitioners.

The majority verdict was delivered by Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Musarrat Hilali, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Justice Shahid Bilal, Justice Hashim Kakar, Justice Aamer Farooq, and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi.

Justice Salahuddin Panhwar recused himself from the bench, while Justice Ayesha Malik and Justice Aqeel Abbasi had dismissed the review petitions during the preliminary hearings.

On March 4, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rejected requests to allot reserved seats for women and minorities to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC)—the party to which PTI-backed independents had joined post-elections. The ECP, in a 4-1 majority verdict issued on March 1, ruled that the SIC had failed to comply with legal requirements, including submission of party lists, and thus was ineligible for reserved seats.

he ECP further stated that the vacant reserved seats would not remain unfilled and should instead be redistributed among other parliamentary parties based on proportional representation. As a result, the ECP reallocated these seats to parties including PML-N, PPP, MQM-P, and JUI-F.

Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and three other members endorsed the majority decision, while Punjab Member Babar Bharwana dissented.

On May 3, the Supreme Court took up the case after earlier suspending both the ECP’s March 1 ruling and the PHC’s March 14 judgment, referring the matter to a larger bench. PTI had challenged the ECP’s decision as “unconstitutional,” arguing it was wrongly denied its share of reserved seats.

Today’s Supreme Court ruling concludes the legal dispute, reaffirming that the Sunni Ittehad Council is not entitled to reserved seats and validating the redistribution of those seats to other parties.