Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf moves to Islamabad High Court over Senate chairman, deputy chairman elections

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday challenged the conduct of Senate elections for the chairman and deputy chairman slots and sought pushback with a plea submitted to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), The Express Tribune reported.

The petition, filed by the five PTI senators, claimed that the current electoral college is incomplete and therefore 'unconstitutional', as the Senate polls were not held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).  It requested the court to push back the chairman and deputy chairman polls till the election for Senate seats for KP. However, the registrar's office raised objections to the plea. "The case of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) senate seats is already under hearing in the Peshawar High Court (PHC)," stated the registrar's office.

"For the election of the K-P senate seats, the PHC should be approached," IHC observed, The Express Tribune reported. In a letter addressed to the secretary of the Senate, PTI expressed concern regarding the alleged 'deprivation' of its legitimate right to participate in the election of the chairman and deputy chairman of the upper house. PTI quoted Article 59 of the Constitution, stating that the Senate is to comprise 96 members, with 23 elected from each province and four from ICT, The Express Tribune reported.

The party quoted Article 60 (1) of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, which reads, "After the Senate has been duly constituted, it shall, at its first meeting and to the exclusion of any other business, elect from amongst its members a Chairman and a Deputy Chairman and, so often as the Office of the Chairman or Deputy Chairman becomes vacant, the Senate shall elect another member as Chairman or, as the case may be, Deputy Chairman.

The party also claimed that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did not fulfil its constitutional duty, and postponed the Senate polls in K-P on April 2. The letter pleaded to stop the elections of chairman and deputy chairman until a constitutionally mandated number of 96 members is reached, and K-P elections are held.

PTI urged the secretary to address the matter with 'urgency and diligence'. The Express Tribune reported that addressing the secretary as the 'custodian of the house,' the PTI held the secretary responsible for maintaining the 'integrity and legitimacy' of the upper house.

The letter was signed by Senator Dr Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur, Senator Falak Naz Chitrali, Senator Fawzia Arshad, Senator Saif Ullah Abro, and Senator Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee. It should be noted that Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari summoned a session of the senate on April 9 so that the newly elected lawmakers of the upper house could be sworn in. The provincial election commissioner on April 2 delayed the senate elections in K-P following the application of the opposition members. The opposition members had moved the ECP as the dispute over the swearing-in of the KP Assembly's opposition members elected to reserved seats remains unresolved