PESHAWAR: The Supreme Court`s decision of awarding reserved seats for women and minorities to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf will significantly impact five opposition parties in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly that had previously benefited from the Election Commission of Pakistan`s March 1 ruling.

The affected parties include Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazal, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Peoples PartyParliamentarians, Awami National Party, and PTI-Parliamentarians, which were allocatedreserved seatsin the nationaland provincial assemblies through various ECP notifications, which stand nullified, now.

They`re the beneficiary of the ECP`s order of denying those seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council, which was joined by the PTIbacked independent lawmakers.

Initially, out of the KP Assembly`s 26 seats reserved for women, the ECP allocated two each to the JUI-F and PML-N, and one to the PPPP.

However, its March 1 decision led to theaward of the controversial 21 reserved seats to these five p a r t i e s with the JUI-F getting eight, P M L N six, PPPP five and the ANP and PTI-P one each.Also, the ECP initially didn`t allot any of the four seats reserved for non-Muslims in the provincial assembly to any party.

However, after the March 1 order, it allotted two of the seats to the JUI-F and one each to the PML-N and PPP.

Despite allocation of the controversial reserved seats to different parties in the assembly, the MPAs-elect didn`t take oath as after their respective notifications, the assemblywasn`t conveneduntiltheSupreme Court issued a stay order and suspended their notifications. Now after the apex court`s judgement, there is a high likelihood of the PTI getting all 21 seats reserved for women and three for non-Muslims.

However, fate of the fourth seat reserved for non-Muslim will be clear after the ECP`s calculation in accordance with the relevantformula.

Similarly, KP has 10 reserved seats for women in the National Assembly. Of them, the notification of eight has been set aside by the Supreme Court`s decision.

Initially, one of these seats was allotted to the JUI-F and PML-N each.

The ECP, after its March 1 order, awarded four seats tothe PML-N and two each to JUI-F and PPPP.

Now, after the SC`s verdict, the PTI is entitled to the NA`s these eight reserved seats.

Prior to the Feb 2024 general elections, the PTI submitted its priority lists for the reserved seatsinthe province.

In its list for 10 of the reserved seats for women in the NA from KP, the party had given only a single name of Maliha Ali Asghar Khan.

Similarly, for the 26 women reserved seats in the KP Assembly, the PTI issued a list of three candidates, including Mashal Azam, presently serving as an adviser to the chief minister, Uzma Riaz and Fauzia Bibi.

In its list for the seats reserved for non-Muslims, the PTI named Wazir Zada, a former MPA from Chitral, only.

Currently, 92 of the assembly`s 115 general seats are held by the PTI-backed MPAs, who joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).However, Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur didn`t join the council and maintainedhisindependent status.

As for the other parties holding on general seats, the JUI-F and PML-N have seven each, PPPP four, and ANP two, including the one who won on PK-22 Bajaur on July 11, and PTIP two.

Moreover, out of the 45 National Assembly`s general seats in KP, three are held by PML-N, two by the JUI-F, and one each by the PPPP and Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen.

The SIC was joined by 34 of the PTIbacked independent MNAs, whereas three of the PTI leaders opted to remain independent, including its chairman Barrister Gohar Ali, secretary general Umer Ayub Khan and Ali Asghar. Similarly, PTI dissident Mubarik Zaib is an independent MNA from Bajaur tribal district.