PESHAWAR: Following the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to postpone the Senate polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur reiterated the government's stance against allowing lawmakers elected on reserved seats to take an oath.
Speaking to the media outside the KP Assembly in Peshawar, Gandapur emphasized, "Those who became [assembly] members illegally will not be allowed to take oath... We will not compromise on our constitutional right."
Gandapur's statements came after the ECP postponed the Senate elections in KP following a plea filed by opposition parties amid an ongoing standoff with the government over the oath-taking issue.
Ahmad Karim Kundi of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) submitted a plea to the commission, citing that 25 members of his party had not yet been sworn in and requested a postponement of the polls.
Expressing disappointment over the allocation of reserved seats to other political parties, the chief minister criticized the repeated violations of the Constitution and vowed to challenge the decision, asserting that the party would "strongly protest" against it. He also announced plans to pass a resolution outlining the party's future course of action in a parliamentary party meeting.
Meanwhile, reacting to these developments, KP Assembly Opposition leader Ibadullah Khan criticized the KP chief minister, accusing the government of disregarding both courts and the ECP and suggested their obedience was only to Imran Khan, the incarcerated founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Khan emphasized the importance of holding Senate polls only after the swearing-in of elected members and lamented the government's stubbornness leading to the postponement of the elections in KP.
Previously, KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati filed a review plea in the Peshawar High Court (PHC) concerning the court's directive to administer the oath to lawmakers elected on reserved seats. The issue of oath-taking on reserved seats in KP has sparked controversy due to the deadlock between the provincial government and opposition parties, with significant implications for both sides given the province's 11 seats in the upper house of the parliament.
