ISLAMABAD - The unpredicted apex court verdict on reserved seats, with its far reaching impacts, have not only proved a major setback to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition in the parliament, but also sent ripples across the political chessboard. The decision is considered a political triumph for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf [PTI], after a long time, as it has turned the party into a single largest group in the National Assembly and also snatched the two-thirds majority from the ruling clique. The numerical strength in the parliament, after the Supreme Court’s decision, reveals that the current ruling coalition has lost a parliamentary luxury of enjoying two-thirds majority rather the PTI has emerged as the biggest party in the lower house of the parliament.
The seats of ruling coalition members will decrease to 210, as in the major setback Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) only has 108 members and its major coalition partner (PPP) decreased to 68. A two-thirds majority in the National Assembly requires 224 members, which the ruling parties are now not enjoying after the verdict. The decision has provided a significant political jump to PTI, as it now has 115 members.
The PTI-supported independent members had formed a parliamentary alliance with Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), making the total number of their members 84, with eight PTI-supported members, bringing the total to 92. Now with the reserved seats, this number will become 115. New members will come from PTI’s submitted priority list.
PTI will now get 19 women and three minority seats in the National Assembly. PTI-backed candidates, who had contested and won the February 8 elections as independents after their party was stripped off its election symbol, had joined the SIC to form a coalition of convenience. Political pundits viewed that the party position in the parliament has turned interesting after the unpredicted court decision.
They were of the view that the change in numerical strength will have psychological impact over the coalition partners. The political romance among the allies could also be affected. According to parliamentary traditions, they commented that the single largest party in the house has the right to form the federal government, but the PTI will not be in a position to form the government alone despite being the single largest party in the parliament.
They were of the view that there was international pressure over the ruling clique as they were defending its position by passing the resolutions. The loss of 2/3 majority has also snatched the constitutional right to make any amendment, which was perhaps in the mind of the ruling coalition..
