112 MPAs-elect to take oath today in KP Assembly

PESHAWAR: The 112 newly elected lawmakers are scheduled to take oath as members of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly today.

This is the 13th provincial assembly in the parliamentary history of the province since 1946. In the 124-member House, 99 lawmakers are elected on general seats while 22 are reserved for women and three for minority communities.

The general election was held on July 25 for 97 provincial assembly seats. The election was suspended on two provincial assembly constituencies, i.e. PK-78 Peshawar and PK-99 Dera Ismail Khan due to the martyrdom of ANP candidate Haroon Bashir Bilour and PTI's Sardar Ikramullah Khan Gandapur in suicide bombings.

The Election Commission of Pakistan has de-notified the election on PK-23 Shangla due to the low turnout of female voters in the constituency. The seat was won by PTI's Shaukat Yousafzai. The losing PML-N candidate Rashad Khan had approached the Election Commission with the complaint that the women who voted were less than the mandatory 10 percent of the total votes cast.

The MPAs-elect, who had also won National Assembly seats, have to vacate their provincial assembly seats on which by-election will be held. Former chief minister Pervez Khattak had won one National Assembly and two provincial assembly seats from Nowshera. He is vacating both the provincial seats and keeping his National Assembly seat. Former assembly speaker Asad Qaiser, Ali Amin Gandapur and Dr Haider Ali of PTI and Ameer Haider Khan Hoti of Awami National Party (ANP) all won one National Assembly and one provincial assembly seat. They are all vacating their provincial assembly constituencies after opting for National Assembly.

Dr Amjad Ali of PTI had secured two provincial assembly constituencies in Swat and he has to vacate one of his seats. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MPA-elect Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha, who was re-elected from Abbottabad, will administer oath to the newly elected members of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

Looking into the history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly (former NWFP Assembly), the first session of the assembly was summoned on March 12, 1946 when the Khudai Khidmatgar movement won elections and Dr Khan Sahib was elected as chief minister of the province.

Nawabzada Allah Nawaz Khan was elected as Speaker and Lala Girdheri Lal as Deputy Speaker on March 13, 1946. The provincial government of Dr Khan Sahib was dismissed by the Governor General in September 1947 and the Muslim League minority Chief Minister Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan formed the government.

After the creation of Pakistan, the first election in the then NWFP Legislative Council was held on December 15, 1951 and the session of the assembly was summoned on January 10, 1952 for the oath-taking ceremony. Nawabzada Allah Nawaz Khan was again elected as the unopposed Speaker and Khan Muhammad Farid Khan as Deputy Speaker on July 10, 1952.

After the restoration of the provincial assembly in 1970, the general election was held for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly on December 17, 1970. The first session of the assembly was summoned on May 2, 1972 in the hall of Pakistan Academy for Rural Development, University Town Peshawar. Muhammad Aslam Khan Khattak was elected as Speaker and Arbab Saifur Rehman Khan as Deputy Speaker.

Mufti Mehmood was elected chief minister as part of an alliance between Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and National Awami Party (Wali). His government collectively resigned in protest against the dismissal of the Balochistan provincial government formed by the NAP and JUI.

After some political maneuvering a minority government was formed by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) under Sardar Inayatullah Khan Gandapur, who was subsequently replaced by Nasrullah Khan Khattak.

The provincial elections in 1977 were boycotted by the opposition Pakistan National Alliance, a short-lived government was formed under Chief Minister Mohammad Iqbal Khan Jadoon.

The 1985 elections were held on non-party basis on February 28, 1985. The first session of the assembly was summoned on March 12, 1985 for the oath-taking ceremony. Raja Amanullah Khan and Ahmad Hassan were elected as Speaker and Deputy Speaker on March 14, 1985 and Arbab Jehangir Khan was elected Chief Minister of the province.

In the 1988 general election, the PPP emerged victorious and formed government under chief minister Aftab Sherpao. However, the PPP government was dissolved and fresh election was held in 1990 wherein Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) formed the government and Mir Afzal Khan was elected as chief minister.

In 1993, fresh election was held and Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and Awami National Party (ANP) managed to form government and Pir Sabir Shah was elected as chief minister. However, an in-house change was made in the assembly after no-confidence move succeeded against him and Aftab Sherpao once again became chief executive of the province.

As a result of 1997 general election, a new provincial assembly took oath on February 2, 1997 and Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan was elected chief minister and Hidayatullah Khan Chamkani of the ANP as speaker of the Assembly.

After 2002 general election, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) secured maximum number of seats in the provincial assembly and Akram Khan Durrani of the JUI-F and Bakht Jehan Khan of the Jamaat Islami were elected Leader of the House and speaker of the assembly, respectively.

In 2008 general election the ANP formed government and under power-sharing formula Ameer Haider Hoti was elected as chief minister and Kiramatullah Chagharmatti of the PPP as speaker of the Assembly.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) formed government with the help of Jamaat-e-Islami, Qaumi Watan Party and Swabi-based Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan after the 2013 general election. Pervez Khattak was elected as chief minister while Asad Qaiser served as speaker of the provincial assembly for five years.

In the 2018 general election the PTI emerged as the single largest party in the provincial assembly and would easily form the next government.

The party has nominated Mehmood Khan as chief minister and Akbar Ayub as speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. The name for deputy speaker has yet to be announced. However, it is believed that it would be a female lawmaker from the ruling party.