ISLAMABAD   -  Days after facing defeat to win over a two-thirds majority in the parliament to get the controversial constitutional package passed, the ruling coalition has now come up with another plan that is likely to escalate the ongoing tensions between the judiciary and the executive as well as the establishment.

National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in a letter has requested the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) not to implement the July 12 judgment of the Supreme Court that held the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) eligible for parliamentary reserved seats.

In a similar fashion to the above, Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan in a separate communication also told the electoral watchdog that implementation of the SC ruling was no longer legally feasible after recent amendments to the Elections Act. Urging reinforcement of the parliament’s supremacy, he warned that undermining parliamentary sovereignty would be detrimental to democracy.

The development has come at a time when eight judges of the apex court last week reprimanded the Election Commission for not implementing its verdict, bringing an end to the government’s hopes to seize a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly to get the constitutional package passed from the parliament. The SC also warned the ECP for its continued failure to fulfil its legally binding obligation, saying that this may have consequences.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led ruling alliance is already in the eye of the storm for its botched efforts to sail the constitutional package through the parliament. The constitutional amendments were aimed at changing the entire structure of the judiciary by giving more powers to the parliament and the executive – a move that could have disturbed the balance of power between the state institutions.

Many see that the letters of speakers of two legislatures are part of an effort by the government to share the burden of the electoral watchdog that is reluctant to implement the ruling of the apex court by not allocating reserved seats to the party of former prime minister Imran Khan. The non-implementation of the decision could have consequences for the Election Commission.

It is crystal clear that the government doesn’t want the reserved seats to be allotted to the PTI in the light of the apex court ruling. Consequently, the ruling coalition in the coming days can push the electoral watchdog to allocate these seats to them in the light of the new law, in a move to increase its strength not only in the national and Punjab assemblies but also in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

If the SC ruling is implemented, the opposition PTI will become the single largest party in the National Assembly, creating problems for the treasury in the house.

Having made such efforts by the government, the ongoing political and legal crisis has worsened but the SC’s detailed verdict on reserved seats can turn the table by ending this controversy once for all.