PHC to hear Swati’s plea on Senate elections today

PESHAWAR: The dispute over subjecting of the Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the oath of elected members on reserved seats has turned into a legal clash, as Senate candidate Azam Swati mounts a challenge against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision.

ECP finalises arrangements for Senate elections

Today, the Peshawar High Court (PHC), alongside the ECP, is set to hear the petition challenging the decision. Presided over by Justice Arshad Ali and Justice Waqar Ahmed, the PHC will conduct the hearing, where arguments will be presented to annul the ECP’s decision.

The plea emphasises the importance of upholding democratic principles and fairness in electoral processes and the annulment of the ECP’s decision, to allow senate elections to proceed as scheduled on April 2.

Senate polls: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s reserved seats issue persists

The contention in the issue remains the reserved seats that were claimed by Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) – the allied party of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) – but were turned down by the court in favour of the opposition parties. If the provincial assembly session is called and candidates take oath on the reserved seats, that will remove the advantage that PTI-backed candidates enjoy in the votes.