As-salamu alaykum - PHC tells KP speaker to swear in new chief minister if governor delays
As-salamu alaykum - A Pakistani high court has ordered Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati to administer the oath to Chief Minister-elect Sohail Khan Afridi if Governor Faisal Karim Kundi does not do so by 4 p.m. on Oct. 15, 2025. May Allah make things easy.
This order followed a petition from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which asked the Peshawar High Court to nominate the speaker or another official to swear in Afridi after he won a majority in the provincial assembly. Afridi’s election came amid confusion after outgoing Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur submitted his resignation twice (on Oct. 8 and Oct. 11) because of discrepancies in his signatures, but the governor refused to accept it.
Many saw the governor’s refusal as political manoeuvring to slow down PTI’s change of government in the province. Kundi is from the Pakistan Peoples Party, part of the federal coalition, while PTI is the main opposition at the centre and relations between them are tense.
A single-judge bench led by Chief Justice S.M. Attique Shah issued the decision, citing Article 255(2) of the Constitution, which allows someone else to administer an oath if the designated person is unable to do so. The judge said that if the governor fails to swear in the new chief minister within a reasonable time, Swati is nominated to do it.
Afridi, a legislator from Bara district, now faces big tasks - fixing provincial finances and dealing with cross-border militancy that has hit the region. Let’s hope the oath is administered without more delay and that leadership can focus on governance and security, Insha'Allah.
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