PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly Secretariat has scheduled a re-administration of the oath to 25 newly elected members on reserved seats, a development that has raised questions about the validity of the recent Senate elections. The oath-taking will take place tomorrow (on Monday) during an assembly session.
According to officials, the matter was added to the assembly’s agenda after the Peshawar High Court (PHC) sought details of the schedule. The 25 members — including 21 women and four minority representatives — had already taken their oath on July 20 at the Governor’s House. The oath was administered by Governor Faisal Karim Kundi under PHC directives. Following this, the lawmakers exercised their voting rights in the Senate elections held on July 21 and July 31, while also participating in routine assembly proceedings.
The dispute originates from the Supreme Court’s June 27 ruling, which directed that the remaining reserved seats in the K-P Assembly be allocated to opposition parties. Acting on this verdict, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) instructed the assembly speaker to convene a session for the oath-taking. The ECP also approached the PHC chief justice, requesting a nomination to administer the oath if the speaker failed to do so.
On July 20, Speaker Babar Saleem Swati convened a session for the oath, but the sitting collapsed due to lack of quorum. The same day, the PHC nominated Governor Kundi to administer the oath, which he did later that evening. These members subsequently participated in both Senate elections, including the by-election on July 30 for Dr. Sania Nishtar’s vacant seat.
Later, the speaker challenged the validity of the oath administered at the Governor’s House, arguing it was beyond the governor’s jurisdiction. The PHC then directed that the members retake their oath under assembly supervision, leading the secretariat to schedule the ceremony for August 25.
The decision has stirred debate among legal experts, some of whom caution that a second oath could jeopardize the Senate elections in which these members voted, potentially invalidating the election of 12 senators. It could also affect the legality of the new members’ earlier participation in assembly business, including resolutions and notices they submitted.
