Baldev fails to take oath again

PESHAWAR: Member Provincial Assembly (MPA-elect) from minorities, Baldev Kumar, could not take oath once again on Monday as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly lacked quorum.

The MPA-elect was produced in the assembly on the directives of Peshawar High Court (PHC). However, the session presided by a panel of chairmen in the absence of Speaker Asad Qaiser could not be run as just after recitation from the Holy Quran, Fazle Elahi of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) pointed out the lack of quorum.

The chair ordered ringing of the bells but the quorum could not be completed, leading to the chair’s announcement to prorogue the assembly sine die. Baldev Kumar was declared elected after the murder of Sardar Soran Singh from Buner. He was arrested on the murder charges and sent to prison.

Earlier, the PHC had issued his production order for taking oath but the treasury and opposition had joined hands to block his oath-taking by breaking the legal way of quorum, following which the PHC summoned the speaker in contempt of court case for not obeying the court order.

The court again issued production order of the MPA-elect and he was brought to the house. However, he could not take oath again for lack of quorum while the session was presided over by panel of chairmen as speaker was absent and the post of deputy speaker is still vacant after election of Dr Mehr Taj Roghani as senator.