Peshawar:
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) president of the Babar Salem Swati Assembly has said that the oath administered by KP Faisal Karim Kundi governor to the members in 25 reserved seats was unconstitutional and that the MPA must take new waste today (August 25).
“A new oath, under the Constitution and the Law, will be taken tomorrow (Monday, August 25) during the session of the Assembly,” Swati told journalists on Sunday after a review meeting on recent rains and floods in the provincial capital.
He said that administering the oath to the members of the Assembly is the prerogative of the speaker, not of the governor.
After much ado, 25 opposition legislators elected in seats reserved in the KP Assembly on July 20 took their oaths, not in the provincial legislature, whose session was postponed earlier in the day due to the lack of quorum, but in the governor’s house on Sunday night.
These MPA, including 21 women and 4 minority members, were scheduled to oath at an assembly session specially requested on July 20. However, just after the beginning of the session, a ruling member of the party, Shair Ali Afridi, said the lack of a quorum.
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.
Subsequently, the opposition leader, Dr. Ibadullah Khan, presented a petition 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 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 swear ceremony was held at the governor’s house in Peshawar, where Governor Kundi administered the oath to the 25 freshly elected members.
Meanwhile, the MPA chosen in reserved seats have decided not to resume the oath of the membership of the Assembly today. For this purpose, the opposition leader has convened a meeting of opposition parties at the Assembly at 12 noon.
According to opposition sources, the 25 members had already made their oath on July 20, so there is no reason to repeat it. They said that even if the speaker asks for a new oath, no member will comply.
