QUETTA, June 1: Amid the Balochistan National Party-M’s boycott of the inaugural session of the provincial assembly, newly elected members of the house took oath here on Saturday.

Sardar Akhtar Mengal, president of the BNP-M, has convened a meeting of his party’s central committee on Sunday to decide whether the party’s legislators-elect would take oath or not.

The party has won two seats in the Balochistan Assembly and one in the National Assembly in the May 11 elections. Mir Hamal Kalmati has been elected MPA whereas Sardar Mengal has been elected to both houses.

The BNP-M leadership alleges that massive rigging took place in the constituencies where the party was expected to emerge victorious.

Speaker Syed Matiullah Agha administered oath to 56 legislators. In a house of 65 members, the PML-N has 18, the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) 14, National Party (NP) 11, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) 8, PML-Q 5, BNP two and BNP-A, Awami National Party, Jamot Qaumi Movement (JQM) 1 and Majlis Wehdatul Muslimeen (MWM) one each.

Apart from Sardar Mengal and Hammal Kalmati, Mir Zafarullah Zehri of the BNP-A, Ghulam Dastagir Badini and Kiran Haider of the PML-N and Jam Mir Kamal (independent) did not take oath.

Jam Kamal has also been elected on a National Assembly seat which he has decided to retain. Similar is the caser of Ms Haider who has also been elected MNA on one of the seats reserved for women.

The Supreme Court has disqualified the PML-N’s PMA-elect Mir Abdul Ghafoor Lehri from becoming a legislator in a fake degree case. He has filed a review petition against the verdict.

The Election Commission had postponed the election in the Kachhi constituency because of death of a candidate before the 11 polls. He was killed in a firing incident during his election campaign.

Besides the old faces, a number of MPAs have reached the assembly for the first time. They are: Sardar Raza Muhammad Barraich, Nasrullah Zeray, Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai, Agha Syed Liaquat Ali, Manzoor Ahmed Kakar, Masooma Hayat, William Johan Barkat and Ms Fariza of the PkMAP; Muhammad Azim Buledi, Haji Muhammad Salam, Mir Muhammad Khalid Langov, Mujeeb-Ur-Rehman Muhammad Hasni, Nawab Muhammad Khan Shahwani, Hainderi Maish Baloch and Yasmeen Lehri of the NP; Ma’azallah Musakhel, Mufti Gulab Khan, Sardar Gul Muhammad Domar and Abdul Malik Kakar of the JUI-F; Akbar Askani, Sardar Dur Muhammad Nasar, Mir Izhar Hussian Khosa, Rahat Bibi Jamali and Santosh Kumar of the PML-N; Syed Muhammad Raza of the MWM, Mir Abdul Majid Abro of the JQM and independents Mir Aamir Khan Rind and Sardar Sarfaraz Khan Domki.

At the session, Fateha was offered for the departed souls of the brother, son and nephew of Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, who were killed in a bomb attack in Khuzdar a few days before the elections.

Apart from Urdu, the copies of oath were available in Balochi, Brahvi and English, but a member belonging to the PkMAP preferred to take oath in Pashto.

Tight security arrangements were made in and around the assembly building.

The house will meet again on June 4 when the new speaker and deputy speaker will be elected.

Several political parties under the auspices of All Parties Conference, including the JUI-Ideological, BNP-M and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, staged a demonstration outside the assembly building to protest against the alleged rigging in the general elections.