Hearing in petition against non-holding of Senate elections deferred

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday adjourned hearing in a petition against the non-holding of Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after receiving a response from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

A two-member bench comprising Justice SM Attique Shah and Justice Sahibzada Asadullah heard the petition filed by Azam Swati. During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer Ali Zaman Advocate informed the court that this petition was filed to conduct Senate elections in KP. He said the election schedule for April 2, 2024, was announced across all provinces, but the case regarding reserved seats arose because the allocation of reserved seats was challenged in the high court.

He pleaded that the ECP had allocated reserved seats to irrelevant candidates. However, the ECP postponed the elections, citing the excuse of not taking the oath from these candidates, which resulted in the province remaining without representation in the Senate.

He argued that Senate members served for six years, and it had been a long time since this term began. Now, when senators will come, how will their term be completed?

How will their duration be managed?

Upon this, Justice SM Attique Shah inquired from the ECP’s special secretary of Law to contact the commission and let the court know how much time it needed and when they plan to hold the elections.

The special secretary informed the court that they had filed a review petition in the Supreme Court while the ECP had held three previous meetings, and the matter was still under consideration.

He added that 25 seats in the Provincial Assembly were still vacant, which was why the elections had not been held.Upon this, Justice SM Attique Shah remarked that this delay was also due to the ECP’s inaction.

The special secretary later informed the bench about the ECP’s stance, saying that they cannot take any action until the review petition in the SC was decided. He said once the SC issued a decision, they would be able to proceed.After hearing the ECP’s response, the court postponed further hearing.