PESHAWAR: Seven Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz MPAs elected on the seats reserved for women and non-Muslims moved Peshawar High Court, seeking orders for the provincial assembly`s speaker and deputy speaker to administer oath to them.

In a joint petition, MPA elected on a non-Muslimseat Suresh Kumar and six women MPAs-elect, including Amina Sardar, Faiza Malik, Afshan Hussain, Shazia Jadoon, Jamila Paracha and Farah Khan, requested the court to declare illegal and unconstitutional the `denial` of oaths to them since July 2, 2025, when the Election Commission of Pakistan notified them as MPAs.

They sought the court`s direetives for the speaker,deputy speaker and secretary of the provincial assembly to make arrangements for administering oath to them well before the polling date of July 21 for the forthcoming Senate elections in the province to enable them to cast votes.

Alternatively, the petitionersrequestedthatthe chief justice of the high court nominate any person for administering oath to them as per man-date of Article 255 (2) of the Constitution.

The petition was filed through a panel of senior lawyers including Rehmanullah Khan, Kifayatullah Khan and Ashfaq Khan Daudzai.

The respondents in the petition are the speaker, deputy speaker and secretary of the provincial assembly, the provincial government through its chief secretary, Provincial Election Commissioner, provincial law secretary, federal government through the parliamentary affairs secretary and the Senate through its secretary.

The petitioners said that the Supreme Court`s Constitutional Bench on June 27 upheld the last year judgement of the PHC in relation to allocation of reserved seats to the political parties in the National and provincial assemblies.

They said that based on the said judgment, the ECP notified on July 2 the returned candidates on various reserved seats in the country, including those in the KP Assembly.

The petitioners contended that as per Article 255 (2) of the Constitution, a person was required to make an oath before he entered upon an office, and he should be deemed to have entered upon the office the day on which he had made the oath.

They added that as per Article 65 read with Article 127 of the Constitution, a person elected to a house should not sit orvote until he had made before the house oath in the form set out in the Third Schedule to the Constitution.

The petitioners claimed that since the speaker was custodian of the house and therefore, he was requested to summon the session of the assembly so that oath may be administered to the notified returned candidates, but due to ulterior motives he had declined to do so.

They contended that Article 255(2) also provided that where under the Constitution, an oath was required to be made before a specified person and for any reason it was impracticable for the oath to be made before that person, it may be made before such other person as may be nominated by the chief justice of a high court in case of a province and the Supreme Court`s chief justice in all other case The petitioners said that by not administering oath to them, they would be deprived of casting votes in the senate polls scheduled for July 21.

Meanwhile, the petitioners have also petitioned the Election Commission of Pakistan for the swearing-in of the candidates returned on reserved seats in the KP Assembly. They urged the ECP to request the chief justice of the Peshawar High Court to nominate a person in line with Article 255(2) of the Constitution to administer oaths to the returned candidates.