New KP saga begins
A NEW saga began with the much-delayed swearing-in of the new chief minister of KP. The PTI, the opposition and the governor of KP interpreted the Constitution in their own self-serving ways.
At issue was the legal point raised by the opposition and the governor that the election of the new CM was not possible till the resignation of the then outgoing provincial chief executive became effective after the governor’s ‘verification’ and formal ‘acceptance’.
It is not clear what the opposition thought it would gain by delaying the election when none of the three major opposition parties could agree on a joint candidate to contest the vote against PTI nominees. Nor was any effort, unlike in the past, made to pressure or entice pro-PTI MPAs to defect.
Defection, in fact, had been made easier by the Election Commission when it declared the pro-PTI MPAs of the Sunni Ittehad Council independent, thus free from any obligation to follow any party’s direction. The opposition, it seems, was misled into playing a game without a plan, probably encouraged by some powerful voices that had publicly ‘rejected’ PTI leader Imran Khan’s choice of Sohail Afridi as the new CM.
There are no constitutional provisions to support the position taken by the opposition and the governor on the issue of the CM’s resignation, and the resignation becomes automatically effective upon being tendered to the governor.
Had there been any doubt about the ‘genuineness’ of the resignation, it was wiped out when the then outgoing CM, Ali Amin Gandapur, publicly announced in the provincial assembly that he had resigned and the ‘joke’ about delaying the election of his successor should come to a stop.
It is unclear how far the new CM’s conduct will be different from that of his predecessor.
The CM’s election in the legislature further sealed the opposition’s fate when the new provincial chief executive was elected by a thumping majority, securing 90 votes in a House of 145. This was an overwhelming mandate as a candidate for CM needed only 73 votes to prove his or her numerical majority.
In this case, the new CM actually secured 17 extra votes, reflecting that not even a single pro-PTI ‘independent’ MPA wavered by defecting as the practice has sadly been in the past. As another new normal in Pakistani politics, the matter landed in the Peshawar High Court where the chief justice promptly accepted the PTI’s point of view and directed the governor to administer the oath to the chief minister-elect by a fixed time, and nominated, under Article 255(2), the KP Assembly Speaker to conduct the oath in case the governor was unwilling or unable to comply with the court’s direction.
It is ironical that Article 255(2) was amended under the 26th Constitutional Amendment, which gave the power to the provincial high court to nominate someone else to administer the oath if the governor was not available to do so. Earlier, this power to nominate someone else was available with the governor. Had this article not been amended, the opposition and the governor might have delayed the oath-taking by a few more days.
A division bench of the Peshawar High Court also rejected the plea filed by one of the opposition candidates seeking to declare the CM’s election unconstitutional. Understandably, the PTI leadership was profuse in its praise for the judiciary for delivering justice to their party and candidate.
Fortunately, the governor eventually administered the oath to the CM-elect in the stately Governor’s House though surrounded by a messy crowd which constantly pushed and jostled to get close to the CM. This is how the first phase of the new saga came to an end.
It remains to be seen how far the policy and conduct of the new CM will be different from that of Mr Gandapur, who constantly tried to navigate a balancing act. On the one hand, there were clear instructions from Imran Khan to leave no stone unturned to secure his and his wife’s release, along with that of scores of other incarcerated party leaders, even if it meant violent confrontation with the federal government and its law enforcers.
The former CM had led quite a few rallies to Islamabad — some of them violent; he sounded aggressive most of the time and even threatened to respond, bullet for bullet, if his rally was stopped again. Despite this confrontational posture, he did not cross certain red lines and that might have been his undoing.
For example, he was asked not to let the annual provincial budget 2025-26 pass in the assembly but he justifiably didn’t comply. He also held meetings with the federal interior minister and shook his hand, too, which was criticised in the strongest, even obscene, terms in pro-PTI social media.
He had practically abandoned the idea of leading assault rallies from KP to the national capital after the violent end of the Oct 24, 2024, rally in Islamabad. He also failed to comply with the wishes of Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan and wife Bushra Bibi. His public criticism of Aleema Khan might have proven to be the proverbial last straw. In short, he was not aggressive enough for the likes of Imran Khan and his family.
The new CM has declared in his post-election maiden speech in the assembly that he is the ‘champion of agitational politics’. Instead of focusing on education, health, development and governance, he said that his top priority was to secure the release of Imran Khan and his wife. This must have gone down well with the PTI leader and his family. He also said in his first speech that he was Pakistani first and Pakhtun later.
One is not sure how much this will calm the nerves of his detractors; we must wait and see if his ‘balancing act’ works better than that of his predecessor.
The writer is the president of Pakistan-based think tank, Pildat.
president@pildat.org
X: @ABMPildat
Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2025
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