
JUI-F leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman on Tuesday filed a petition in the Peshawar High Court (PHC), requesting that the election of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa be “set aside” and declared as null and void.
Rehman was one of the four people in the race[1] for the office of KP CM, along with Sardar Shah Jehan Yousaf of PML-N, and Arbab Zarak Khan of PPP and PTI’s Sohail Afridi — who won the election after the opposition staged a boycott.
The candidates fielded by the JUI-F, the PPP and the PML-N recieved zero votes during the election while Afridi won with 90.
In a petition filed today, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, Rehman named six respondents, including the KP government, KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, the KP Assembly through its Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, the secretary of the provincial assembly, outgoing KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, and CM-elect Sohail Afridi.
In his petition, he requested the court to set aside the election and declare it “ab initio void” as the it was “wholly unlawful, arbitrary, capricious, mala fide, without jurisdiction, coram non judice.”
Rehman questioned how an election could be held if Gandapur’s resignation had not yet been accepted. Citing Article 130(8) of the Constitution, he stressed that elections for the post can not be held unless it was vacant.
The petition asked the court to declare decisions taken by the assembly and the speaker with regard to the CM appointment as “without lawful authority, void, and of no legal effect.”
The petition further urged the court to “declare all consequential notifications and actions, including the impugned notification, as illegal, arbitrary, capricious, without jurisdiction and having no legal effect.”
Rehman requested the court to halt any further proceedings in the matter until the governor had “lawfully received and verified” the resignation of Gandapur.
The petition called for a fresh election “in accordance with the Constitution and the assembly rules, after lawful confirmation of vacancy.”
It concluded by requesting the PHC to suspend the election result in order to “prevent chaos and ensure preservation of the rule of law.”
At yesterday’s assembly session, the leader of the Opposition Dr Ibadullah, had said they did not accept Afridi as the new chief minister.
“The PTI is interpreting the law as per their understanding, we are doing it according to our understanding. There are grey areas and now the court has to decide,” he told Dawn.com, adding that the opposition would knock on the doors of the courts.
He further contended that there were now “two chief ministers” in the province as Gandapur’s resignation had not been accepted.
Oath-taking hearing scheduled for 1pm today
Meanwhile, PTI’s Salman Akram Raja and the provincial AAG appeared in front of the court today, concerning the matter of the CM-elect’s oath-taking application.
On Monday, in a pre-emptive move[2], the PTI had approached the PHC to request that KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati be nominated to administer Afridi’s oath, rather than the KP governor.
PHC Chief Justice S. M. Attique Shah, who will be presiding over the hearing, told them that the hearing regarding the oath-taking will be held at 1pm today.
He had also heard the case yesterday and directed the AAG to confirm whether the KP governor had received the summary related to the oath from the assembly secretariat.
References
- ^ people in the race (www.dawn.com)
- ^ move (www.dawn.com)