PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to resolve the issue of Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa within the next 60 days.
The ruling came in response to a petition filed by a candidate for the technocrat seat in the upcoming Senate elections. Justice S.M. Ateeq Shah, in his judgment, emphasized the need for the ECP to make a decision on the elections in accordance with the law.
The dispute stemmed from the ECP’s decision to postpone the elections due to an unresolved matter regarding the oath-taking process for elected women on reserved seats. The ECP had cited a pending Supreme Court case on the allocation of these seats as the reason for the delay.
However, the PHC has now instructed the ECP to take action and finalize the election process within the set timeframe. The petitioner’s lawyer argued that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s representation in the Senate has remained incomplete, and the lack of elected senators from the province has created a constitutional gap.
The case highlighted that despite the Supreme Court’s decision, the implementation had been stalled, leaving Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Senate seats vacant.
