25 K-P lawmakers to retake oath

Court-mandated second oath sparks fears of Senate elections being declared void

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Secretariat has issued a schedule to re-administer the oath to 25 newly elected members on reserved seats, a move that has sparked serious questions over the validity of recent Senate elections. The oath-taking is scheduled to take place on August 25 during an assembly sitting.

According to officials, the assembly secretariat added the oath-taking to its agenda after the Peshawar High Court sought details of the schedule. Notably, these 25 lawmakers including 21 women and four minority representatives, had already taken their oath on July 20 at the Governor's House, administered by Governor Faisal Karim Kundi under directives from the high court. Following their swearing-in, they exercised their right to vote in the Senate elections held on July 21 and July 31, and even participated in routine assembly proceedings.

Sources said the development stems from the Supreme Court's June 27 ruling, which ordered that the remaining reserved seats of the K-P Assembly be allocated to opposition parties. Acting on this ruling, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) wrote to the assembly speaker, directing him to convene a session for the oath-taking of the new members. The ECP also wrote to the chief justice of the Peshawar High Court, asking that if the speaker failed to comply, an appropriate individual be nominated to administer the oath.

On July 20, Speaker Babar Saleem Swati convened a session for the oath, but the attempt collapsed due to lack of quorum. The same day, the high court nominated Governor Kundi to administer the oath, which he did later that evening. The members subsequently participated in both Senate elections, one on July 21 and the by-election on July 30 for Dr Sania Nishtar's vacant seat.

However, the speaker later challenged the validity of the oath administered at the Governor's House, arguing it was beyond the governor's authority. The high court subsequently ordered that the members retake their oath under the assembly's supervision. The secretariat has now complied by scheduling the ceremony for August 25.

The move has stirred debate, with some legal experts warning that a second oath could invalidate the Senate elections in which these members participated, potentially nullifying the election of 12 senators. It could also retroactively void the new members' participation in assembly proceedings, including their submission of resolutions and notices.

Government officials, however, downplayed these fears. "The speaker and the chief minister only challenged the members' oath, not the Senate elections," a senior government source told The Express Tribune. "In case of re-oath, the pending petition will be disposed of. The Senate polls cannot be declared null and void unless they are specifically challenged."

Advocate General K-P echoed this view, stating: "The government has never contested the Senate elections. Only the oath was under challenge. Therefore, the question of the polls being invalidated does not arise. The speaker never refused to administer the oath rather he had already placed it on the assembly agenda."