JUI-F leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman on Tuesday filed a petition in the Peshawar High Court (PHC), requesting that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa election be “annulled” and declared void.
The election was held amid uncertainty over the status of Ali Amin Gandapur’s resignation as provincial chief executive.
Rehman was one of four people in the race for the KP CM office, along with Sardar Shah Jehan Yousaf of the PML-N, and Arbab Zarak Khan of the PPP and Sohail Afridi of the PTI, who won the elections after the opposition organized a boycott.
In a petition filed today, a copy of which is available with sunrise.comRehman named six respondents including the KP government, KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, KP Assembly through its speaker Babar Saleem Swati, provincial assembly secretary, outgoing KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and CM-elect Sohail Afridi.
In his petition, he asked the court to annul the election and declare it “ab initio void” for being “totally illegal, arbitrary, capricious, bad faith, incompetent, coram non judice.”
Rehman questioned how elections could be held if Gandapur’s resignation has not yet been accepted. Citing Article 130(8) of the Constitution, he stressed that elections cannot be held for the office unless it is vacant.
The petition asked the court to declare the decisions taken by the assembly and the president regarding the appointment of the CM as “without legal authority, null and void.”
The petition further urged the court to “declare all notifications and consequent actions, including the impugned notification, as illegal, arbitrary, capricious, incompetent and without legal effect.”
Rehman asked the court to stop any further proceedings in the matter until the governor had “legally received and verified” Gandapur’s resignation.
The petition called for a new election “in accordance with the Constitution and the rules of the assembly, after legal confirmation of the vacancy.”
He concluded by asking the APS to suspend the election result to “avoid chaos and ensure the preservation of the rule of law.”
The swearing-in hearing is scheduled for today at 1:00 p.m.
Meanwhile, Salman Akram Raja of the PTI and the provincial AAG appeared in court today in connection with the matter of the CM-elect’s oath-taking request.
On Monday, in a pre-emptive measure, the PTI had approached the PHC to request that KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati be nominated to administer Afridi’s oath in place of the KP Governor.
PHC Chief Justice SM Attique Shah, who will preside over the hearing, told them that the hearing on the oath-taking will be held today at 1:00 p.m.
He also heard the case yesterday and directed the AAG to confirm whether the KP governor had received the oath-related summary from the assembly secretariat.
Gandapur’s resignation
The KP Assembly, barely two years old, appears to be currently facing a constitutional crisis, which has its origins in jailed PTI founder Imran Khan’s October 8 decision to change leadership in the province.
Following his directive, Gandapur resigned from his post as provincial executive chief on the same day, while party general secretary Salman Akram Raja confirmed that the party had chosen Sohail Afridi.
