Speaker adjourns session over lack of quorum; PTI provincial parliamentary party meeting boycotts sitting; Election Commission writes to Court; oath today at 9 am and Senate election at 11 am
Shamim Shahid / DNA
PESHAWAR: A day ahead of the Senate elections, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Sunday administered the oath to 25 opposition’s reserved seats MPAs, in compliance with the Peshawar High Court (PHC) order.
The development comes hours after the opposition MPAs filed a petition in the PHC, urging the chief justice to nominate an authority to oversee the oath-taking process after KP Assembly speaker adjourned the session due to a lack of quorum.
Earlier, The Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Syed Muhammad Atique Shah appointed KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi to administer the oath to reserved seats members in the provincial assembly after the speaker adjourned the session due to a lack of quorum.
The development comes hours after the opposition MPAs filed a petition in the PHC, urging the chief justice to nominate an authority to oversee the oath-taking process without further delay.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly session was adjourned shortly after it commenced due to a lack of quorum as the PTI lawmakers skipped the crucial sitting earlier.
KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, who started the proceedings with a delay of over two hours, adjourned the session when PTI MPA Sher Ali Afridi pointed out the lack of quorum.
The chair then ordered headcount and rang the bells for a five-minute break before finally adjourning the session until July 24.
The decision to skip the assembly session came after PTI KP chapter parliamentary party meeting decided to boycott the sitting.
At least 21 women and four minority members were supposed to take their oath as members of the KP Assembly on reserved seats today.
As the proceedings began today, opposition MPAs criticised the interruption during the Quranic recitation, saying, “You cannot point out quorum during the recitation,” said a PML-N MPA.
“Mr speaker, this is not the right way… we’ve been denied our right to take the oath for two years,” she added.
Leader of the Opposition in KP Assembly Dr Ibadullah Khan also expressed displeasure over the speaker’s move, warning that the opposition would take legal action.
“We’ll go to court and request the chief justice to intervene,” he said. “If the oath isn’t taken now, it should at least happen later this evening.”
He added that the opposition is committed to preserving what little political space remains and ensuring it is not further eroded.
A total of five candidates have refused to withdraw their papers from the polls slated for Monday. Among these candidates, Irfan Saleem, Khurram Zeeshan and Waqas Orakzai are hoping for a general seat, former additional inspector general of police Syed Irshad Hussain, is a candidate for the seat reserved for technocrats and Ayesha Bano is a candidate for the reserved seats for women.
