PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur reaffirmed that they will not permit legislators elected on reserved seats to take an oath of office following the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s decision to postpone the Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
“We will not compromise on our constitutional right. Those who became [assembly] members illegally will not be allowed to take an oath,” Gandapur declared to the media on Tuesday outside the KP Assembly in Peshawar.
His comments follow the ECP’s decision to postpone the province’s Senate elections, which were caused by the opposition parties’ continuous standoff with the government over the oath-taking problem.
In an appeal submitted to the commission, Ahmad Karim Kundi, the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), claimed that 25 of his party’s members had not yet been sworn in and asked for a postponement of the elections.
The chief minister claimed that the Constitution was “repeatedly being violated” in reaction to the polls being postponed, even as she bemoaned the distribution of reserved seats to other political parties.
Gandapur reaffirmed, “We will fight this and will not back down,” adding that the party would “strongly protest” the action.
