Islamabad:
The ruling coalition has secured a two-thirds majority in the Senate, where PPP emerged as the largest party, followed by PTI and PML-N.
According to Express News, PPP has secured 26 seats in the upper house; Followed by PTI, who also has 16 senators of his own and support from six independent legislators.
PML-N now has 20 seats; BAP has four seats, while MQM and ANP have three senators each. Jui-F now also has a total of 7 senators. PTI secured six of the 11 Senate seats from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), where the election in the Senate was held on Monday.
A day earlier, 25 opposition legislators took on reserved seats in the KP assembly their oaths – not in the provincial legislature whose meeting was postponed earlier in the day due to a lack of decision -making, but in the Governor House.
With the induction of these new MPAs, the KP assembly was finally fully composed almost a year and a half after February 8, 2024 parliamentary elections. The OATH roof of these MPAs also paved the way for the election of the Senate to 11 seats held at the provincial assembly on Monday.
The KP assembly could not be fully composed after the last year’s election due to a controversy about reserved seats, as the reigning party in the province, PTI, claimed. However, PTI lost the legal battle for reserved seats on June 28.
Later, the Election Commission in Pakistan (ECP) distributed the reserved seats for women and minority members among opposition parties-PML-N, PPP, JUI-F, ANP and PTI-P.
These MPAs including 21 women and 4 minority members were scheduled to take oaths in a specially requested assembly session on Sunday. However, right after the start of the session, a reigning party member, Shair Ali Afridi, pointed out the lack of decision -making.
Opposition members raised an uprising and staged a protest with the newly elected women and minority representatives about the speaker’s dais and sang slogans.
Later, the speaker ordered an employee number in the assembly.
Only 25 members were present in the house, causing him to order bells to be called for two minutes. However, the required number of members were not met. Consequently, the speaker postponed the session until July 24 and stated that the Ed-Cermonia would take place in the next session.
Previously, the PTI Parliamentary Party held a meeting where government members were asked not to enter the hall and to boycott procedures to prevent the ED-Ceremony.
Afterwards, KP’s opposition leader Dr. Ibadullah Khan together with opposition members a petition in Peshawar High Court (PHC), who requested Chief Justice to nominate an appropriate person in accordance with Article 255 (2). 2 of the Constitution to administer ED to the newly elected members.
The ECP also approached PHC Chief Justice and asked him to appoint a person to manage ED for the new MPa. KP Chief Justice Syed Muhammad Attique Shah later approved KP -Governor Faisal Karim Kundi to take Ed.
Later, Sunday evening, a heavy ringing ceremony was held in the Governor House in Peshawar, where Governor Kundi administered oath to the 25 newly elected members in accordance with Article 65 and Article 255 (2). 2, of the Constitution and Rule 6 of the KP procedure and behavior in business rules, 1988.
