KP governor administers oath to opposition MPAs
Staff Report
PESHAWAR: Twenty-five MPAs-elect of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa opposition were sworn into office on Sunday after KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi administered their oaths.
The oath-taking issue has risen once again after the recent redistribution of reserved seats in the wake of a verdict by the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench that effectively took away the seats from the PTI and declared other political parties eligible for them.
Kundi delivered a press conference following the swearing-in ceremony, where he highlighted that the government reneged on an agreement it had made with the opposition.
“A formula of 6-5 was agreed upon and our opposition candidates withdrew,” the KP governor said. “All of them agreed that they will contest five seats — two will be contested by the JUI-F, two by the PPP, and the PML-N will for one.
“The PTI founder [Imran Khan] then made a decision, and their information secretary said, ‘our Senate candidates are not in our control’. If your Senate candidates are not in control, then how are the MPAs-elect in your control?” Kundi asked.
“The point is, we had a deal in place, we had an agreement. But their members were not completely on board.”
The KP governor highlighted that there are between 30 and 35 independent members of the assembly.
“We have spoken with them, and we are hopeful that we can move towards 6-5. As soon as the leader of the opposition briefs us, we will have a strategy ready for tonight and then we will contest tomorrow’s [Senate] elections,” Kundi said.
Earlier, the opposition MPAs could not take their oaths on reserved seats due to a lack of quorum in the provincial assembly.
At Sunday’s assembly session, which had been called by the KP government, the 25 MPAs-elect on reserved seats for women and minorities were expected to be sworn in. The session had assumed importance as the non-administration of oaths could lead to the postponement of Senate polls set for tomorrow for 11 seats from the legislature.
The session was scheduled for 9am but began with a delay of two hours and 20 minutes, with KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati presiding over it. As soon as the session started, MPA Sher Ali Afridi of the ruling PTI pointed out a lack of quorum, leading to the session being adjourned till July 24.
The ECP had approached the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday, requesting that Chief Justice Syed Mohammad Attique Shah appoint a person to administer the oath to the notified MPAs-elect under Article 255(2) (oath of office) of the Constitution.
Subsequently, after Sunday’s session, the PHC registrar issued an order by Justice Shah that accepted the ECP request and nominated Governor Kundi to administer the oaths “at the earliest”.
