In a plea filed with the Islamabad High Court (IHC), the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) requested a delay of the Senate elections for the chairman and deputy chairman positions on Monday.
Five PTI senators have filed a challenge arguing that the existing electoral college is “unconstitutional” since it is incomplete because Senate elections were not conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
The party begged the court to put off the elections for the chairman and deputy chairman positions until after the K-P Senate seats are decided.
The registrar’s office objected to the plea, though.
The registrar’s office claimed, “The case of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) senate seats is already under hearing in the Peshawar high court (PHC).”
“The PHC should be approached for the K-P senate seat election,” IHC noted.
PTI voiced its concerns over the purported “deprivation” of its rightful participation in the election of the upper house’s chairman and deputy chairman in a letter to the Senate secretary.
Article 59 of the Constitution, which states that the Senate would have 96 members—23 chosen from each province and four from ICT—was cited by PTI.
The party cited Article 60(1) of the 1973 Pakistani Constitution, which states:
Following proper Senate inauguration, the Senate will choose a Chairman and Deputy Chairman from among its members at its first meeting, ahead of any other business. Additionally, the Senate will choose a new member to fill the position of Chairman or Deputy Chairman whenever the current one becomes vacant.
The party also delayed the K-P Senate elections scheduled for April 2 because it believed that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had failed to uphold its constitutional obligations.
In the letter, it was begged that the chairman and deputy chairman elections be postponed until K-P elections were held and 96 members were at least required by the constitution.
PTI requested that the secretary take “urgency and diligence” in handling the situation.
Perceiving the secretary as the ‘custodian of the house,’ the PTI charged her with preserving the ‘integrity and legality’ of the house of representatives.
Senators Dr. Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur, Falak Naz Chitrali, Fawzia Arshad, Saif Ullah Abro, and Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee all signed the letter.
Noteworthy, on April 9, President Asif Ali Zardari called a meeting of the senate to administer oaths to the newly elected members of the upper chamber.
The opposition members request led to the provincial election commissioner postponing the K-P senate elections on April 2.
Since there is still disagreement regarding the sworn-in ceremony for the opposition members of the KP Assembly who were elected to reserved seats, the opposition members petitioned the ECP.
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