Political wrangling

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The PTI is in a political crisis of its own, especially in the wake of the verdict on reserved seats. The Constitutional Bench's pronouncement that the PTI is neither a parliamentary party nor is it eligible for the seats reserved for women and minorities in national and provincial assemblies has literally decimated its locus standi.

The beleaguered party, faced with the threat of floor-crossing, is mulling an oath of allegiance from its MNAs and MPA, unsure of what turn this politics of exigency is going to take. Punjab and K-P assemblies are in the eye of the storm as PTI-backed independents face overtures from rival political forces.

The 12-member judgment from the Constitutional Bench dealt a death blow to the PTI and dashed its hopes of emerging as a viable entity on the floor of the house by grabbing some 77 reserved seats. Moreover, the ruling made it obvious that those who had earlier joined the Sunni Ittehad Council could now face the defection clause under Article 63A of the Constitution, if they chose to rejoin PTI. This is where the political wrangling is underway - with some trying to saving the skin while others bent upon obliterating the party's nomenclature.

The decision of the Constitutional Bench — though well within its lawful domain, at least in letter if not in spirit — has stirred an unprecedented political crisis. Is it, by the way, constitutional for any party other than the PTI to get a share from the booty? Had the court altogether set aside distribution of the reserved seats that would have gone to the PTI, it could have at least avoided horse-trading.

The PTI too has a blame to share as its political arithmetic was wayward. Had its elected legislators joined the MWM on the floor of the house, instead of the SIC, this upheaval would not have occurred, because the former had formally participated in the general elections. It would have been wiser on the part of the PTI legislators to discipline themselves with the rank and file, avoiding a new episode of instability.