‘Imran Khan’s party to emerge as largest party in Pak Parliament’

Islamabad: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will emerge as the largest party in Parliament with 109 seats after the Supreme Court on Friday ruled that it is eligible for the allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities, according to a media report.

In a major legal victory for 71-year-old Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, a 13-member full bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa annulled the Peshawar High Court’s decision upholding the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) move to deny its share in reserved seats in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies.

The bench also declared the decision of the top electoral body “null and void”, terming it “against the Constitution of Pakistan”.

The PTI will emerge as the largest party in the National Assembly as its seats will likely soar from 86 to 109, after it gains 23 reserved seats, Geo News reported.

The opposition alliance in the National Assembly will also surge to a strength of 120, the report said. Currently, the combined opposition, including the PTI, has 97 members.

Khan’s party has 86 members in the lower house, 84 of whom are on board with the Suni Ittehad Council (SIC) and two independents — party leaders Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Omar Ayub Khan.

With the majority seats of the PTI in the lower house of the legislature, the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will continue to occupy the simple majority with the strength of 209 members. The PML-N has a total of 108 members.