Opposition will try to get more than five Senate seats as PTI backtracks

PESHAWAR: Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Sunday blasted the PTI over backtracking from the earlier promise of following 6:5 formula in the July 21 Senate polls and vowed that the opposition would try to get six to seven of their candidates elected as senators.

Kundi, who was addressing a gathering at the Governor’s House after taking oath from the newly-elected members on the reserved seats, said both sides had agreed to a formula under which the PTI was supposed to get six senators against five of the opposition.

Elections are scheduled for July 21 (Monday) for filling the 11 vacant Senate seats after the reserved seats judgment by Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench paved the way for completing the electoral college in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

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Through the uncontested Senate polls, the PTI’s provincial government and the opposition had supposedly closed the door to horse-trading.

However, things changed dramatically when Speaker Babar Saleem Khan Swati adjourned the session without taking oath from the new MPAs, although the Sunday’s gathering was summoned for the very same purpose.

The reason behind this move is the internal differences within the PTI where the dissidents are not ready to withdraw and also against any compromise with the opposition after the episode started over allocation of party tickets.

Meanwhile, the opposition MPAs-elect moved the Peshawar High Court (PHC) which directed the governor to take oath from them, the order implemented on Sunday evening.

Read more: MPAs take oath, Gandapur promises action against PTI dissidents

BROKEN PROMISE

Kundi said they made the promise and then broke it, adding that they did not adhere to the formula.

“How they will control the MPAs when even the Senate candidates [of PTI] are not [in their control],” he remarked.

The governor said there were 30 to 35 independents in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. Discussions had been going on with them and more could take place, he added.

Kundi said they would aim at getting six to seven candidates elected as senators by formulating the next line of action in consultation with the opposition leader.

First the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and later the PHC directed the speaker to take oath, but he didn’t, the governor said.

Read more: Speaker violated constitution, no-confidence may be next: Kundi

In this regard, he added that he took oath from the MPAs according to the constitution.