PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued a directive to the speaker of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly, instructing the administration of oaths to newly elected members on reserved seats designated for the provincial assembly.
While announcing the verdict reserved earlier, the ECP on Thursday responded to several applications concerning the swearing-in ceremony for members elected to reserved seats. Additionally, the commission ordered the K-P Assembly speaker to convene a session for the purpose of administering oaths. The ECP’s verdict emphasised that failure to convene the K-P Assembly session could lead to the postponement of the provincial Senate elections. The commission also mandated the speaker to adhere to the rulings of the Peshawar High Court (PHC).
Furthermore, the verdict underscored that non-compliance with ECP directives could result in the extension of the Senate elections date.
In its statement, the ECP reiterated the fundamental right of every citizen to vote, affirming that no individual should be deprived of this right.
A day earlier, the Peshawar High Court ordered for administering oath to the newly-notified members of the K-P Assembly on the reserved seats for women and non-Muslims, belonging to the opposition parties.
A two-member division bench, comprising Justice SM Atiq Shah and Justice Shakeel Ahmed, allowed the petition filed by the newly-notified lawmakers from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).
Earlier, the bench heard the arguments from both sides. The petitioners contended that the provincial assembly speaker was not administering the oath to them. However, the lawyer for the speaker contested that claim, saying that it was not the case.
The issue stemmed from the allocation of the reserved seats to the opposition parties, instead of the ruling Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which had gathered the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independents. The SIC said that those seats were its right as per its strength in the assembly.
However, the Election Commission of Pakistan had declined to allocate the reserved seats to the SIC because it had not applied for such allocation, nor it provided its priority list to the ECP before the February 8 polls, which is mandatory under the election laws. The PHC has also upheld the ECP decision.
Consequently, those seats were allocated to other parties in the house as per their priority lists. The opposition alleged that the speaker was delaying the oath to the new members to prevent them from voting for the opposition candidates in the upcoming Senate elections, scheduled for April 2. –Agencies
