PESHAWAR: Opposition parties in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly on Monday moved the Peshawar High Court (PHC) to seek the court’s intervention on the issue of swearing-in of members at reserved seats.
The petition filed by members of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) urges the court to ensure that the members elected on the reserved seats are sworn in, to cast their votes in the upcoming Senate elections.
“Failure to take the oath of the members elected at the reserved KP is a manifestation of ‘unintentional’,” the petition further states, praying the court to postpone the Senate elections if the elected members do not take the oath.
This development comes at a time when the issue of swearing-in of members on reserved seats is facing uncertainty due to the standoff between the KP government and the opposition parties, where the KP government objected to the KP Governor’s decision to convene a council meeting on the opposition’s request. .
According to KP Food Minister Zahir Shah Toru, the governor took an illegal step by writing a letter to convene the assembly session.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Central Information Secretary Faisal Karim Kundi announced last week that they would approach the courts as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to convene the provincial assembly.
His remarks came after KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati refused to follow the governor’s recommendation to convene the legislature and administer oath to members elected on seats reserved for women and minorities.
It is pertinent to know that the oath taking of the KP assembly members announced for the reserved seats has become crucial for both the ruling and opposition parties as it will play an important role in the Senate polls scheduled on April 2 to fill 11 seats from the province. .
The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which has a clear majority in the House, plans to delay the swearing-in, at least until the Senate elections.
With the existing strength of the assembly, the ruling party can win a majority of the Senate seats in all categories from the province.
On the other hand, the opposition parties want the 24 MPAs elected to reserved seats to take a pledge before the Senate elections to win the required number of seats in the upper house of parliament.
