Senate polls: PTI bags six, opposition wins five seats in KP
Although the distribution of tickets had created err in the ranks of the PTI in the province and candidates including Irfan Saleem, Khurram Zeeshan and Ayesha Bano had refused to accept the decision of the party leadership. However, at last the matter was settled down with the withdrawal of the candidates from the polls.
The ruling party and joint opposition were agreed on a formula of the election of 6-5 formula and efforts were also made to elect their due share unopposed. However, the internal rift in PTI over the awarding of tickets and dispute over the oath taking of the members of the KP Assembly elected on women and non-Muslims reserved seats created hurdle in the election of the candidates unopposed.
Senate elections on 11 seats of KP today
All 145 members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, the Electoral College for the Senate poll, cast their votes and after counting the Election Commission of Pakistan issued Form-58, the Certificate of Election to the elected candidates.
The successful candidates including Robina Khalid (PPP) and Robina Naz (PTI) on seats reserved for women, Azam Khan Swati (PTI) and Dilawar Khan (JUI-F) on technocrat seats, while Muhammad Talha Mahmood (PPP), Niaz Ahmad (PML-N) Mirza Mohammad Afridi, Murad Saeed, Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, Faisal Javed (PTI) and Atta-ul-Haq of JUI-F were elected on general seats.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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Subsequently, the state sought to rely on the statements of three new witnessesincluding PTI leaders Sadaqat Abbasi and Wasiq Qayyumas fresh evidence to support its third version of the conspiracy. "This final attempt too was found wanting and was expressly disbelieved by the ATC-I, Rawalpindi, which discharged the co-accused Bushra Imran through a well-reasoned order dated 20.08.2024. "The prosecution's continued failure to present coherent, consistent, and credible evidence after multiple opportunities clearly brings the case within the realm of further inquiry, making the petitioner entitled to the concession of post-arrest bail under Section 497(2) CrPC 1898," it said. The petition stated that despite the rejection of all three prosecutorial versions by various competent forums, the LHC on June 24 declined Imran's bail while relying solely on the statements of the two police officialsInspector Asmat Kamal and ASI Hassam Afzal. 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"Shockingly, this explanation had never been offered before any judicial forum neither during the proceedings of pre-arrest or post-arrest bails before the learned ATCs, nor during the remand hearings, nor even before the LHC during the remand hearing or the Supreme Court in earlier stages. "This new explanation appears for the first time in the impugned order, without any evidentiary foundation or prosecutorial assertion to support it. "The reliance placed on such a retrospective and unsubstantiated statement of the prosecutor constitutes a manifest error on the part of the learned division bench," it added. It said the LHC is inadvertently filling the lacunae left by the prosecutiona task clearly outside the scope of judicial discretion in bail matters and undermines the fairness of the reasoning applied in the impugned order. 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"This lack of urgency or interest on the part of the investigating agency strongly supports the inference that the arrest was not necessitated by the merits of the case, but was rather a tool of oppression, thereby further justifying the grant of post-arrest bail" The petition said Imran Khan was entitled to the grant of post-arrest bail on the well-established principle of consistency, as affirmed through various judgments of the apex court. "A critical and directly relevant bail order passed in favour of a co-accused, Mr. Ejaz Chaudhary, by [the SC] on May 2, 2025, during the pendency of the present bail matter before the [LHC], appears to have escaped the attention of the learned division bench. "The said order was rendered by a three-member bench headed by Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, wherein post-arrest bail was granted to Mr Ejaz Chaudhary despite allegations of conspiracy concerning the events of 9th May. "In para 5 of the said judgment, this [SC] expressed concern over the prosecution's failure to justify the delay in recording the supplementary statement of the complainant "Further, in para 6, it was held that on a tentative assessment of the record, the case against the co-accused fell within the ambit of further inquiry under Section 497(2) CrPC 1898." The petition highlighted that the ATC-III in Lahore confirmed Imran's pre-arrest bail in two May 9 cases through a detailed order on March 1, 2024, followed by the grant of post-arrest bail in four additional cases on November 8, 204. "These orders, based on similar allegations and the same prosecutorial evidence, have not been set aside by any Superior Court and have attained finality." It said Imran Khan has already been granted bail in 21 criminal cases arising out of the May 9 incidents, all of which relied on substantially identical evidence. "These consistent judicial findings strongly support his entitlement to post-arrest bail on the ground of parity and further inquiry, particularly in the face of a case fabricated at the behest of political adversaries. "Furthermore, both [the LHC] and the [ATCs] at Lahore and Rawalpindi have, in multiple proceedings, recorded observations that cast serious doubt on the credibility of the prosecution's narrative," it said.
