Peshawar:
After much ado, 25 opposition legislators elected in seats reserved in the assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) took their oaths, not in the provincial legislature, which was postponed earlier in the day due to the lack of quorum, but in the governor’s house on Sunday night.
With the induction of these new MPA, the KP Assembly now finally constitutes almost a year and a half after the general elections of February 8, 2024. The oath of these MPA has also raided the way for the Senate elections for 11 seats that will be held today in the Provincial Assembly.
The contest includes 7 general seats, along with 2 seats each for women and technocrats, for which a total of 16 candidates are in the race.
The Senate elections, held under the supervision of the Pakistan Electoral Commission (ECP), will allow each MPA to broadcast three votes.
One of the ballots, the white one, will be for general seats. Green voting paper will be for technocratic seats and pink voting paper will be for women’s seats
To win one of the 7 general seats, a candidate will need 19 votes. For the 4 seats reserved for women and technocrats, each candidate will require 49 votes to succeed.
The Government and the opposition, through mutual consultations, have jointly presented 11 candidates, 6 backed by the Government and 5 by the opposition. In addition, five other PTI candidates are also playing independently.
The KP Assembly could not be fully constituted after last year’s elections due to a controversy over the reserved seats, in which the ruling party of the province, the PTI, claimed. However, the PTI lost the legal battle for the seats reserved on June 28.
Later, the ECP distributed the seats reserved for women and minority members among the opposition parties: the PML-N, the PPP, the JUI-F, the ANP and the PTI-P.
These MPA, including 21 women and 4 minority members, were scheduled to oath at an assembly session specially requested on Sunday. However, just after the beginning of the session, a ruling member of the party, Shair Ali Afridi, said the lack of a quorum.
The opposition members raised a shock and organized a protest with the newly elected women and the minority representatives surrounding the speaker of the speaker and the songs of singing.
The opposition leader, Dr. Ibadullah Khan, asked the speaker, Babar Salem Swati, to administer an oath to the MPA, stating that the seats had been vacant for a year and a half.
The Swati speaker told him that the lack of quorum had now identified. “Someone must cite a clause that allows me to continue with the procedures of the Assembly,” he added.
When the PML-N Sobia Shahid member protested, his microphone was off. The speaker commented that he was not allowed to speak, since this was not a session for speeches.
After this, the speaker ordered a staff in the assembly.
Only 25 members were present at home, which led him to order the bells to be stopped for two minutes. However, the required number of members was not fulfilled. Consequently, the speaker postponed the session until July 24, stating that the oath taking ceremony will take place in the next session.
Previously, the PTI parliamentary party held a meeting in which the members of the Government received instructions not to enter the hall and boycott the procedures to avoid the oath taking.
In an informative session of the media after the session, Dr. Ibadullah Khan criticized the provincial government, saying: “During the last 12 years, the province has been governed by politically immature individuals.
Subsequently, Dr. Ibadullah Khan, together with the members of the opposition, presented a request in the Superior Court of Peshawar (PHC), requesting the President of the Supreme Court to name an appropriate person under article 255 (2) of the Constitution to administer the oath to the newly elected members in the reserved seats.
Meanwhile, the ECP also approached the president of the PHC, asking him to designate a person to administer the oath to the new MPA. The president of the KP court, Syed Muhammad Attique Shah, then authorized the governor of KP, Faisal Karim Kundi, to take the oath.
Later, on Sunday night, a swearing in the governor’s house in Peshawar was held, where Governor Kundi administered the oath to the 25 freshly elected members by virtue of article 65 and article 255 (2) of the Constitution and rule 6 of the KP procedure and the realization of business rules, 1988.
The ceremony was attended by the Federal Minister of Engineer Safron Amir Muqam, opposition leader, Dr. Ibadullah Khan, the parliamentary leader of PPP Ahmad Karim Kundi, parliamentary leader of ANP, the parliamentary leader of ANP, Arbab Usman Khan and the leader of PML-N, the leader Murtaza Javebasi, together with several MPA and several leaders.
After administering the oath, the governor congratulated the newly jury members. He also thanked the Supreme Court of PHC for nominating this important constitutional responsibility.
Meanwhile, the provincial government of PTI announced a challenge to the oath of the MPA in the PHC.
According to the KP’s lawyer, General Shah Faisal Utmankhel, article 65 of the Constitution stipulates that the members of the Assembly must take an oath in the house of the Assembly. He said the speaker did not refuse to administer the oath; The session was postponed due to the lack of quorum.
He added that an assembly session is scheduled for July 24, and in such circumstances, the oath cannot be done in the governor’s house.
Article 255 (2) of the Constitution uses the term “impracticable” or “impossible”, and only if the prime minister or speaker refuses to administer the oath, the President of the Termisino can nominate someone for this responsibility, he said.
According to the AG, neither the CM nor the speaker refused to administer the oath, and a session for that purpose had been convened. “The government is challenging the oath administered in the governor’s house and that a formal request will be presented in the PHC today on behalf of the CM,” he said.
