PESHAWAR: Former senator and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf central leader Azam Khan Swati on Saturday moved the Peshawar High Court against the orders of the Election Commission of Pakistanabout the possible postponement of the Senate polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

It requested the court to order the ECP to hold the Senate polls in the province on April 2 as scheduled.

On March 28, the ECP declared in response to the applications of five women MPAs-elect that if the speaker of the provincial assembly fails to comply with the directions of the high court to administer oaths to the lawmakers elected to reserved seats, it [the commission] will be constrained to postpone the Senate election in the province until the administration of oaths to the applicants.

A day ago, the high court accepted three petitions of around 20 MPAs elected to reserved seats about their swearing-in and ordered the speaker to administer oaths to them and allow and facilitate their voting in the Senate elections slated for April 2.

Seeks orders for holding elections in KP on April 2

Respondents in Mr Swati’s petition filed through advocate Ali Zaman included the ECP through its secretary as well as women MPAs-elect Amina Sardar, Faiza Malik, Afsha Hussain, Shazia Jadoon, and Jamila Paracha, who filed applications with the ECP.

The PTI leader said he was a graduate from the Sindh Muslim Law College and was enrolled as an advocate with the Islamabad Bar Council.

He added that he practiced law in the district courts of Karachi and in the Sindh and Balochistan High Court from 1975 to 1978, and served as the district nazim of Mansehra as well as a senator for different terms.

The petitioner said he was a candidate for the Senate’s general and technocrat seats in the upcoming elections.

He added that he filed his nomination forms for elections in accordance with the schedule of the polls notified on March 14, while the revised list of candidates was issued afterwards, but the ECP had passed the impugned order on March 28 about the possible delay in the Senate elections in the province.

The petitioner contended that he was a contesting candidate, but he was neither heard by the ECP nor was he issued any notice for it.

“I have been made to suffer at the instance of the respondents [women MPAs] without taking into consideration the right of the members of the provincial assembly to cast votes in the Senate polls,” he said.

Mr Swati contended that the ECP’s orders in question were uncalled for, against the law, and meant to disrupt the process for the upcoming Senate polls.

He said the ECP was bound to ensure that elections were conducted on time and in accordance with the law.

“Obedience to the Constitution and the law is the inviolable obligation of every citizen, wherever he may be, and of every other person for the time being within Pakistan,” he said.

The petitioner said he had no option but to approach the high court against those ‘illegal’ orders of the ECP.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2024