Overview

• Justices Ayesha A. Malik and Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi released a formal dissent in the PTI reserved seats review, rejecting petitions by the PML-N, PPP and the Election Commission of Pakistan.
• The dissent says review jurisdiction is narrow and the petitioners offered no new legal grounds, seeking instead to reargue issues settled in the Supreme Court’s detailed judgment issued in September 2024.
• The judges note that coalition parties challenged only the July 12, 2024 short order, not the detailed verdict, while the ECP later filed additional petitions tied to the detailed judgment.
• They object to the bench’s reconstitution under Article 191A, introduced by the 26th Amendment, arguing the Judicial Commission’s expanded composition risks a political majority and undermines transparency.
• An 11-member bench had accepted the review petitions by 7–4 on June 28, 2025, and a majority judgment released on October 2 allowed those reviews and set aside the earlier detailed judgment, with Monday’s note setting out the minority view.