PTI to boycott Senate chairman, deputy chairman election

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday decided to boycott the election for Senate chairman and deputy chairman scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday), ARY News reported.

The decision was taken in the PTI’s core committee meeting where the party urged for delaying the election owing to the postponement of the Senate election in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The PTI, in a statement, said that the upper house of the parliament was incomplete without the election of Senators from the KP, thus the election has been unconstitutional.

The party said that the elections would be “unconstitutional” if it fails to represent all units of the federation.

The former ruling party claimed that the complaints against  Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani were a government tactic to frighten the judges.

The misconduct reference against a specific judge is a result of the campaign against the judiciary, the PTI core committee added.

Read more: PPP contacts political parties for support in Senate chairman’s election

The Imran Khan-founded PTI urged the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of the harassment faced by the judges.

It is pertinent to mention that the Senate election in KP was postponed by the provincial election commissioner on April 2 following the application of the opposition members.

Earlier, PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) filed a petition at the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) seeking postponement of the election for the Senate chairman and deputy chairman owing to the absence of Senate election in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Lawyer Hamid Khan filed the plea on behalf of the SIC where the petitioner sought the ECP to immediately hold the election for 11 Senate seats in the province.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed SIC urged to postpone the Senate chairman and deputy chairman election scheduled for April 9, saying that the Electoral College was incomplete without the KP Senate election.

Meanwhile, preparations are underway to summon the first session of the Senate on April 9 after recent election of the house.

The newly elected senators will take oath in the Senate session, while the chairman and deputy chairman’s election will be held on the same day.