The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday sought a reply from the provincial AAG after the PTI submitted a plea seeking the nomination of the KP Assembly speaker to administer the oath to CM-elect Sohail Afridi.
PHC Chief Justice S. M. Attique Shah asked AAG Sanaullah to confirm whether the KP governor has received the summary related to the oath from the assembly secretariat and has instructed him to submit a reply by Wednesday.
“We will look at the matter tomorrow again. Get a response from the governor and let us know,” the judge added.
The development comes after PTI’s Sohail Afridi won the election held in the KP Assembly for the chief minister role. KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, announced that the three opposition candidates — Maulana Lutfur Rehman of JUI-F, Sardar Shah Jehan Yousaf of the PML-N, and Arbab Zarak Khan of the PPP — all received zero votes.
KP’s Leader of the Opposition Dr Ibadullah Khan decried Afridi’s election as “unconstitutional”, and opposition lawmakers staged a walkout from the assembly.
Subsequently, in a pre-emptive move, the PTI approached the provincial high court to request that KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati be nominated to administer Afridi’s oath.
An application filed by the PTI, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, contended that the KP Governor had “made himself unavailable for the purpose of taking oath of office from” CM-elect Afridi.
“The government of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cannot be allowed to come to a standstill,” it asserted, terming the administering of the CM-elect’s oath as a “matter of great urgency”.
“In view of the foregoing, it is respectfully prayed that the Speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly or any other person considered appropriate may kindly be nominated as the person before whom Sohail Khan Afridi may make oath of the office of chief minister.”
The application was filed under Article 255 (oath of office) of the Constitution by Swati, MPA Shah Abu Turah and MPA Sher Ali Afridi.
PHC Chief Justice Shah took up the application in the late afternoon. PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja appeared as the counsel for his party.
Separately, addressing the media in Peshawar, PTI’s Barrister Raja said the PHC gave them and Kundi time until tomorrow to “explain his reasons why he does not want to administer the oath to Sohail Khan Afridi or clarify if he would administer the oath”.
If the governor refuses, Raja added, then it will be the “legal and constitutional obligation” of the PHC chief justice to direct another person to hold the oath-taking so that Afridi can officially initiate performing his duties.
Following Afridi’s election, Naeem Haider Panjutha, a member of PTI founder Imran Khan’s legal team, posted on X that party members had reached the PHC with the application.
Article 129 of the Constitution states that before assuming office, a chief minister is to be administered the oath by a governor, who is Kundi in this case.
But, Panjutha said the Constitution also authorised the PHC chief justice to administer the oath if the governor refuses. “In any case, the oath-taking will take place today,” Panjutha asserted.
Separately, Speaker Swati posted on X that he had “formally sent the summary to the KP governor for [the] oath-taking”.
More to follow
