THE recent controversial ruling by the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench depriving the PTI of its share of reserved seats has further strengthened the present power structure born of allegedly engineered elections.

The verdict, it seems, was foretold given the composition of the bench, which was formed after the passage of the 26th Amendment that has drastically curtailed the judiciary’s independence.

In what has been described as a clear deviation from the rules, the Bench reversed the earlier full-court decision. The controversial judgement has awarded the reserved seats to the ruling coalition parties beyond their proportional strength in the assemblies. This makes a mockery of whatever was left of the so-called democratic process. Not only has the court’s decision validated a dispensation with a questionable mandate, it has also empowered the government to amend the Constitution at will, with the additional reserved seats giving the ruling coalition a two-third majority in parliament.

It is not only about the allocation of 77 reserved seats for women and minorities in the National Assembly; it is also about seat distribution in the provinces. The reallocation of these seats will help consolidate the hold of the ruling parties in the provinces. In KP, where the ruling PTI will not receive any reserved seats, it will improve these parties’ position. (On Tuesday, the Peshawar High Court stopped oath-taking in the KP Assembly over a petition challenging the reserved seats’ allocation.)