Pleas seeking MPAs-elect oath fixed for hearing

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) fixed for hearing the petitions filed by opposition parties, seeking the court’s directives for oath-taking of newly notified members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly before the upcoming Senate elections, ARY News reported.

The PHC bench comprising Justice SM Ateeq Shah and Justice Shakeel Ahmed would hear the pleas filed by the newly notified MPAs belonging to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Wednesday.

The PPP and PML-N jointly approached the PHC while the JUI-F filed a separate petition.

The petitioners pleaded the PHC to declare that the refusal to administer the oath to them is “illegal, unlawful, and unconstitutional.”

It was argued in the petition that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor summoned the provincial assembly session on March 22 while using constitutional powers under Article 109 for oath-taking of MPAs who were declared successful on reserved seats by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The petitioners added that the speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and his deputy ‘disregarded’ their constitutional duties because of ‘political rivalry” and declined to administer the oath to them.

Read More: ECP allocates reserved seats claimed by SIC to other parties

Earlier on March 5, the ECP notified the allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities, which were claimed by PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), to other political parties.

In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly – according to a notification, the ECP allocated reserved seats for women and minorities to Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).