ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Central Information Secretary Faisal Karim Kundi said on Friday that the opposition parties in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will approach the relevant court and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to convene a meeting of the provincial assembly.
The development comes after provincial food minister Zahir Shah Toru said the KP Assembly session will not be held today due to the “illegal move” of KP Governor Haji Ghulam Ali to convene the session. “The governor took an illegal step when he wrote a letter calling for a council meeting. We have sought the opinion of the legal department in this regard but have not yet received a response,” Toru said.
He added that the governor should not become part of the opposition and that Governor Ali should leave his post if he does not know about his authority. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad today, Kundi said that his party had written a letter to the Speaker of the KP Assembly after which the Governor had asked to convene the meeting.
“They fear that the reserved seats will be given to the opposition,” he added. “We request the Speaker of the KP Assembly to pledge to the successful candidates on the reserved seats,” the PPP leader said, adding that the parties should raise their concerns about the elections at appropriate forums.
The KP chairman called a meeting of the council today after he was approached by the opposition parties that the elected members for the seats reserved for women and minorities should take an oath as members of the provincial council. However, the ruling party has written to the legal department seeking its opinion on the matter.
It also filed a court case against the notification of MPAs by opposition parties in all reserved seats. The pledge 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, which has a clear majority in the House, plans to delay the swearing-in until at least the Senate elections. With the current strength of the assembly, the ruling party can win a majority of seats in the Senate in all categories.
The party has already nominated five candidates for general seats and two each for seats reserved for women and technocrats. On the other hand, the opposition parties want the 24 MPs elected to reserve seats to take a pledge before the Senate elections to win the required number of seats in the upper house of Parliament.
