ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s tally reached 158 members in the National Assembly after the joining of nine independents and bagging 33 seats reserved for women and minorities.

Out of the 60 reserved women seats, the PTI has clinched 28, followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) with 16 seats, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) nine seats, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) two seats and one seat each by Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), Balochistan National Party (BNP), Grand Demo­cratic Alliance (GDA), Mut­tahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q).

Similarly, out of the 10 reserved seats for minorities, the PTI has won five, followed by two each by the PPP and PML-N and one by the MMA.

ECP notifies candidates on reserved seats for women, minorities

If the votes of the PTI and its allied parties are counted, the total comes to 184 in the house of 339. In addition to this, four independent MNAs-elect are also poised to support the PTI and, therefore, the total number of the members belonging to the PTI and its allies comes to 188. But the PTI will still not be facing a weak opposition as the strength of its arch-rival PML-N and its allies also comes to 151.

The prominent women who have been notified as MNAs on reserved seats are Dr Shireen Mazari, Munaza Hassan and Andaleeb Abbas of the PTI; Tahira Aurangzeb, Shaista Pervez, former information minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Zahra Wadood Fatemi, the wife of former special assistant to the PM on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi, Mussarat Asif Khawaja, the wife of Khawaja Asif, former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, former religious affairs minister Shagufta Jummani, Shazia Marri and former senator Rubina Irfan.

The National Assembly has a total of 342 seats, including 272 general seats, 60 seats reserved for women and 10 reserved for minorities. Elections on July 25 were held in 270 constituencies as polls in NA-60 Rawalpindi had been postponed following the disqualification of PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi days before the polling while elections in NA-103 (Faisalabad) had been put off after the death of a candidate.

The notification of the success of Fida Dero of the PPP from NA-215 (Sanghar) has been withheld by the Election Commission and thus results of only 339 NA constituencies have so far been announced.

Out of the total 141 general seats of the National Assembly in Punjab, polls took place on 139 with the PML-N and PTI clinching 61 and 60 seats, respectively. But after all the seven independently elected MNAs from the province joined the PTI, the party was able to get 16 reserved seats for women as against 15 by the PML-N, out of the total 33 seats. The PPP and the PML-Q which had won six and four general seats from the province got one each of the two leftover reserved seats for women.

There are 14 reserved seats of women from Sindh, out of which eight have been clinched by the PPP, four by the PTI and one each by the MQM and the GDA.

Out of the nine reserved women seats in NA from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the PTI got seven whereas PML-N and the MMA secured one seat each.

There are four reserved seats for women in the NA from Balochistan and four parties — the PTI, MMA, BAP and BNP — all have secured one seat each.

The final party position after the allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities in the National Assembly shows that there will be a tough contest during the elections for the key offices of speaker, deputy speaker and prime minister next week.

The PTI has already nominated former speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Asad Qaiser for the office of NA speaker and he will face Syed Khursheed Shah of the PPP, a joint candidate of the newly-formed 11-party alliance named Pakistan Alliance for Free and Fair Elections.

Similarly, PTI chairman Imran Khan will be contesting against PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif for the office of the country’s chief executive.

The PTI has secured 158 seats in the lower house of parliament, but this number is certainly going to decrease as the ECP has already asked those members who have won from more than one constituencies to retain only one seat and vacate the others. Such members will have to send their resignations to the ECP before taking oath as MNAs on Monday. When such MNAs-elect will vacate their additional seats, the actual number of the PTI seats in the NA will come down to 152.

Similarly, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi of PML-Q has won two NA seats besides winning a provincial assembly seat. Since, he has decided to retain his provincial assembly seat as he has been chosen as a candidate for the Punjab Assembly speaker, the PML-Q will also lose two seats in the NA and the party will be left with only three members. Since the PML-Q is an ally of the PTI, the party will also lose two more votes in the crucial parliamentary elections.

The parties which have either already announced their support to the PTI or are expected to vote for the PTI nominees are the MQM with seven seats; PML-Q and BAP with five seats each; BNP (four seats); GDA (three); and Awami Muslim League and Jamhoori Watan Party (with one seat each). Besides them, nine independents have joined the PTI. Four independents, who have decided to maintain their independent status, are also expected to vote for the PTI. So the PTI nominees should get 180 votes in all the elections against 151 votes of the candidates of the joint opposition.

The PML-N with 82 seats is the largest party in the opposition group, followed by PPP (53 seats); MMA (15 seats) and ANP (one seat).

PML-N’s Hamza Shahbaz has also won both the NA and the provincial assembly seats from Punjab. If he decides to vacate the NA seat, the opposition’s tally will reduce to 150 in the NA.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2018