ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected on Monday the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) request seeking deferment of Tuesday’s elections on the slots of Senate chairman and deputy chairman.
Earlier in the day, five PTI senators filed the petition, claiming the current electoral college was incomplete and therefore ‘unconstitutional’, as Senate polls were not held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
The party implored the court to postpone the chairman and deputy chairman polls till the election for Senate seats from KP.
During the hearing, PTI’s counsel Shoaib Shaheen said it would be better if the elections, scheduled for tomorrow, were held after Eid. “What could go wrong if the elections are held after Eid,” he said.
However, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq rejected the request shortly after reserving judgment. The court issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) seeking its response to the petition.
Earlier, the registrar of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday raised an objection to the petition filed by five PTI senators in which they had sought a court order for delaying elections for the seats of Senate chairman and deputy chairman unless elections for the Senate seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) are held.
The senators had also prayed to the court to declare the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) notification, dated April 2, 2024, of postponement of the
Senate elections in KP as null and void and give order to hold the elections in the province. The registrar said that since the Peshawar High Court (PHC) was already hearing the KP Senate seats’ election case; therefore the PTI was asked to approach
the high court for the purpose. Separately, the PTI has also filed a motion against the election of Senate chairman at the Senate Secretariat on Monday.
The PTI application bears the signatures of Senators Zarqa Taimoor, Saif Abro, Falak Naz Chitrali, Fauzia Arshad and Saifullah Niazi.
The party implored the court to postpone the chairman and deputy chairman polls till the election for Senate seats from K-P. However, the registrar’s office raised objections to the plea.
“The case of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Senate seats is already under hearing in the Peshawar High Court (PHC),” stated the registrar’s office.
“For the election of the KP Senate seats, the PHC should be approached,” the registrar observed.
In a letter addressed to the secretary of the Senate, PTI expressed concern regarding the alleged ‘deprivation’ of its legitimate right to participate in the election of the chairman and deputy chairman of the upper house.
PTI quoted Article 59 of the Constitution, stating that the Senate is to comprise 96 members, with 23 elected from each province and four from ICT.
The party quoted Article 60(1) of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, which reads:
“After the Senate has been duly constituted, it shall, at its first meeting and to the exclusion of any other business, elect from amongst its members a Chairman and a Deputy Chairman and, so often as the Office of the Chairman or Deputy Chairman becomes vacant, the Senate shall elect another member as Chairman or, as the case may be, Deputy Chairman.”
The party also claimed that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did not fulfil its constitutional duty, and postponed the Senate polls in K-P on April 2.
The letter pleaded to stop the elections of chairman and deputy chairman until a constitutionally mandated number of 96 members is reached, and K-P elections are held.
PTI urged the secretary to address the matter with ‘urgency and diligence’.
Addressing the secretary as the ‘custodian of the house,’ the PTI held the secretary responsible for maintaining the ‘integrity and legitimacy’ of the upper house.
The letter was signed by Senator Dr. Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur, Senator Falak Naz Chitrali, Senator Fawzia Arshad, Senator Saif Ullah Abro, and Senator Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee.
It should be noted the President Asif Ali Zardari summoned a session of the senate on April 9 so that the newly elected lawmakers of the upper house could be sworn in.
The provincial election commissioner on April 2 postponed the senate elections in K-P following the application of the opposition members.
The opposition members had moved the ECP as the dispute over the swearing-in of the KP Assembly’s opposition members elected to reserved seats remains unresolved.
