By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) - Pakistan’s top court on Friday ordered the country’s election body to allot legislative reserved seats to the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Over 220 such reserved seats for women and minorities in parliament and provincial legislative assemblies were allotted to the ruling alliance in the aftermath of the Feb. 8 general elections.

The election commission allotted 70 such seats in parliament to the Pakistan Muslim League, Pakistan People’s Party, and other partners in the ruling alliance.

The PTI did not take part in the general elections as a party and its candidates joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) after it was stripped of its election symbol “cricket bat” by the election commission.

The PTI-backed candidates had won most of the seats, over 90, during the elections.

However, the elections body did not allot the reserved seats to the SIC “due to having non-curable legal defects and violation of a mandatory provision of submission of party list for reserved seats.”

But the Pakistan Supreme Court gave the majority verdict with eight judges in favor of overturning the election body’s order, against five of the 13-judge bench.

The Peshawar High Court had validated the election body’s decision.

The reserved seats, 70 in parliament and 156 in four provincial assemblies, are allotted to political parties in proportion to their victory in the general election.

The top court’s judgment came as a major boost to the party of Imran Khan, who has been in jail since last August.

The issue of reserved seats came up after the PTI candidates were not accepted as party candidates by the election commission, after the bat symbol was taken away by Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa over issues in holding intra-PTI party elections.

The top court directed the election body to complete the fresh allotment process within 15 days.

"Withdrawal of election symbol cannot disqualify a political party from elections,” the court stressed in its verdict. “The PTI was and is a political party.”