Although elections are yet to be held for the Senate seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, legal experts believe that a meeting of the Senate or the Upper House can still be called.
It is stated in the Senate rules that the first session of the Senate will be called for the oath taking, in the same session the election of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman is required.
According to newspaper reports, the Senate meeting is likely to be held on April 9, in which the newly elected members of the Senate will take oath, but nothing has been officially said about it yet.
In recent days, Pakistan Peoples Party has emerged as the largest party in the Upper House after the elections on most of the Senate seats and after winning a total of 14 seats from Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and the Federation, the Peoples Party now has a total of 24 seats. .
People’s Party has nominated Yusuf Raza Gilani as its candidate for the Senate Chairmanship.
The PPP has emerged with a quarter of the total number in the House at a time when 11 seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are yet to go to polls, making the PTI likely to become the single largest party in the House.
After the Senate elections, the number of members in the House is still 85.
As far as other parties are concerned, PTI has 19 members in the Senate. Muslim League-N has 19 members, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam has five members, Balochistan Awami Party has four members, while Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Awami National Party have three each.
Similarly, Pakistan Muslim League, National Party and Balochistan National Party are each member of Mengal. Apart from this, five independent senators are also part of the upper house, belonging to the ruling coalition.
Scene of a meeting of the Senate on 26 December 2023 (Independent Urdu)
Elections for Senate seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are yet to be held. The Election Commission of Pakistan’s written decision regarding the postponement of the Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has referred to the incomplete formation of the Electoral College.
According to the Election Commission, the speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly was instructed to administer oath to the newly elected members on specific seats, however, no arrangements were made for the oath-taking ceremony by the speaker, so the oath-taking of the elected members was not done. This led to the postponement of the Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
According to Article 60 of the Constitution of Pakistan, the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Senate will be elected after the formation of the Senate.
In such a situation, the question is being raised that if the Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are postponed, will the elections of the chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate be possible? Does the constitution allow elections for these two constitutional positions in the absence of senators from a province?
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Ahmad Bilal Mehboob, an expert on constitutional and parliamentary affairs in Pakistan and head of PLDAT, said in a conversation with Independent Urdu that ‘the question is whether the Senate will be properly constituted without a new representation of a federal unit? If yes, then the senate can elect the chairman, deputy chairman and conduct the rest of the business. If it is not properly constituted, it cannot do any of these things.’
According to Ahmad Bilal Mehboob: ‘In the three provinces, the formation of the senate is formalized after the elections and the chairman and deputy chairman are elected in the first meeting after taking the oath.
“I do not think that postponing the Senate election in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly was appropriate or legally correct as Section 130 of the Election Act, 2017 states that vacancies in any assembly cannot nullify the Senate election. Vacancies are also vacant in other assemblies, although these seats are less, still elections were held there.
Former Secretary Election Commission Kanwar Dilshad while talking about this issue said that till the elections of all the provinces are not completed then the election of Chairman and Deputy Chairman will not be held. “However, we found out that it has nothing to do with the rules of the Election Commission, but it is decided according to the rules and regulations and procedures of the Parliament and the Senate.”
Kanwar Dilshad said that according to the Election Act, the chairman and deputy chairman cannot be elected until the Senate is elected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. One of the presiding officers can be appointed as the chairman for a certain period, but the election of the chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate is not complete until the election of the Senate is completed.
“Election of Chairman and Deputy Chairman is an internal process of the Senate”
Nosheen Yusuf, a journalist covering the Senate, told Independent Urdu in this regard that the Senate elections have been held and now the government is bound to call a meeting of the Senate. The postponement of the Senate election in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly will not affect the swearing in of the newly elected senators and the election of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Senate.
Nosheen Yusuf said that according to the Election Act, the members have to submit the details of their election expenses within five days of being elected, after which the Election Commission issues the notification of the newly elected senators, after which the government is bound to convene the Senate meeting. .
He further informed that it is stated in the Senate Rules that the first meeting of the Senate will be called for taking oath, in the same meeting the election of Chairman and Deputy Chairman is required.
According to the constitution, the election of the chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate is an internal process of the Senate. The internal proceedings of the Parliament cannot be challenged in court and this is the decision of various courts and High Courts.
