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Islamabad (AFP)
Pakistan’s government has announced it will file a judicial request to ban the political party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the country’s information minister said on Monday.
“The federal government has decided to file a lawsuit aimed at banning the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf,” Atallah Tarar said in Islamabad, adding that the case would be taken to the Supreme Court.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Imran Khan’s party was eligible for more than 20 extra seats in parliament, increasing pressure on the country’s coalition government.
Candidates from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party contested the February 8 election as independents after being blocked from participating. They won the most seats, but the Election Commission said independents were ineligible for the 70 seats allocated only to political parties.
The commission ordered that reserved seats be distributed to other parties, mostly to the ruling coalition parties.
The reallocation of the 23 reserved seats does not affect the majority of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s coalition government in parliament.
According to Pakistan’s electoral rules, 70 seats are allocated to political parties, of which 60 seats are allocated to women and 10 seats are allocated to non-Muslims, in proportion to the number of seats won by each party. So far, the total number of seats in the National Assembly has reached 336.
The decision strengthened the political position of Khan’s supporters, who accused the election commission and the interim government that oversaw the polls of engaging in rigging and depriving them of victory.
Khan was ousted in 2022 following a dispute with the country’s influential army leaders. The army denies meddling in politics.
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