ECP announces that Senate elections in K-P will now begin at 11:00 AM instead of 09:00 AM today
\n Peshawar
\nTwenty-five MPAs-elect of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa opposition were sworn into office on Sunday after KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi administered their oaths.
\nThe oath-taking issue has risen once again after the recent redistribution of reserved seats in the wake of a verdict by the Supreme Court\u2019s constitutional bench that effectively took away the seats from the PTI and declared other political parties eligible for them.
\nKundi delivered a press conference following the swearing-in ceremony, where he highlighted that the government reneged on an agreement it had made with the opposition.
\n\u201cA formula of 6-5 was agreed upon and our opposition candidates withdrew,\u201d the KP governor said. \u201cAll of them agreed that they will contest five seats \u2014 two will be contested by the JUI-F, two by the PPP, and the PML-N will for one.
\n\u201cThe PTI founder [Imran Khan] then made a decision, and their information secretary said, \u2018our Senate candidates are not in our control\u2019. If your Senate candidates are not in control, then how are the MPAs-elect in your control?\u201d Kundi asked.
\n\u201cThe point is, we had a deal in place, we had an agreement. But their members were not completely on board.\u201d
\nThe KP governor highlighted that there are between 30 and 35 independent members of the assembly.
\n\u201cWe have spoken with them, and we are hopeful that we can move towards 6-5. As soon as the leader of the opposition briefs us, we will have a strategy ready for tonight and then we will contest tomorrow\u2019s [Senate] elections,\u201d Kundi said.
\nEarlier, the opposition MPAs could not take their oaths on reserved seats due to a lack of quorum in the provincial assembly.
\nAt today\u2019s assembly session, which had been called by the KP government, the 25 MPAs-elect on reserved seats for women and minorities were expected to be sworn in. The session had assumed importance as the non-administration of oaths could lead to the postponement of Senate polls set for tomorrow for 11 seats from the legislature.
\nThe session was scheduled for 9am but began with a delay of two hours and 20 minutes, with KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati presiding over it. As soon as the session started, MPA Sher Ali Afridi of the ruling PTI pointed out a lack of quorum, leading to the session being adjourned till July 24.
\nUpon Afridi\u2019s remarks, PML-N\u2019s Sobia Shahid contended that a lack of quorum could not be pointed out between the recitation of the Holy Quran and the oath-taking. \u201cYou (KP government) have been making a joke out of this province for a year,\u201d she said.
\nSwati asked her to point out the legal provisions for her argument instead of giving a speech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ECP announces that Senate elections in K-P will now begin at 11:00 AM instead of 09:00 AM today Peshawar Twenty-five MPAs-elect of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa opposition were sworn into office on Sunday after KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi administered their oaths. The oath-taking issue has risen once again after the recent redistribution of reserved seats […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-491450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n