ECP decision to notify Baldev Kumar as MPA a setback for PTI

PESHAWAR: Though the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government received a setback following the notification by the Election Commission of Pakistan declaring Baldev Kumar as the returned candidate on the seat reserved for the minorities in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, the issue is far from settled.

The Election Commission had to fill the vacant assembly seat within 60 days and did as required by law. However, the KP government is complaining that its written requests to the Election Commission not to notify Baldev Kumar as MPA until his case in the court is decided.

The seat became vacant on April 22 when Sardar Soran Singh, the PTI MPA belonging to Buner district, was gunned down by unknown gunmen near his village Pacha Killay in Pir Baba. The police claimed within 24 hours that it had worked out the case of murder and arrested the principal accused, Baldev Kumar from Swat district, and two hired assassins. Senior cops said Baldev Kumar, who also belonged to the PTI like Sardar Soran Singh, got him killed by hiring the two assassins in a bid to become an MPA in his place.

Sardar Soran Singh, who was special assistant to Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on minority affairs, was a proud Pakistani and a committed PTI activist. He had earlier been a member of the Jamaat-i-Islami, which has a strong presence in Buner.

Though he was lucky to become an MPA on the PTI ticket on a reserved seat due to the party’s landslide victory in the 2013 general election, he earned the enmity of the rival party candidate, Baldev Kumar, who was hoping to clinch the seat. However, he was on priority two on the list after Sardar Soran Singh, whose name was on top, and there was no way he could have become the MPA as long as the latter was alive. The police officials said this was the reason Baldev Kumar conspired to have Sardar Soran Singh mercilessly murdered.

Baldev Kumar is presently in jail and the murder case is being heard in a court. Unless he is convicted, he will remain eligible to get elected as an MPA. The PTI government is hoping Baldev Kumar will be convicted because it has publicly committed not to let him take the oath as MPA even though he belongs to the PTI. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser too has made it clear he won’t administer oath to Baldev Kumar in case he is elected. The provincial government through its spokesman Mushtaq Ghani has indicated that it could lodge an appeal against the Election Commission decision to notify Baldev Kunar as the returned candidate for the non-Muslims seat. The government has made it clear it doesn’t want a killer to sit in the assembly. It will be enticing to see the outcome of this ongoing tussle.