By Sajjad Hussain Shah
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday announced by-elections on March 16 for 33 National Assembly (NA) seats.
The seats were vacated after NA Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf swiftly moved to accept the resignations of PTI lawmakers and AML chief Sheikh Rashid, pending since April 2022, in an apparent bid to scuttle the opposition’s purported plan to bring a confidence motion against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
According to a notification issued by the electoral watchdog today, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the by-polls will be held in the following constituencies:
NA-04 Swat-III
NA-17 Haripur-I
NA-18 Swabi-I
NA-25 Nowshera-I
NA-26 Nowshera-II
NA-32 Kohat
NA-38 D I Khan-I
NA-43 Khyber-I
NA-52 Islamabad-I
NA-53 Islamabad-II
NA-54 Islamabad-III
NA-57 Rawalpindi-I
NA-59 Rawalpindi-III
NA-60 Rawalpindi-IV
NA-62 Rawalpindi-VI
NA-63 Rawalpindi-VII
NA-67 Jhelum-II
NA-97 Bhakkar-I
NA-126 Lahore-IV
NA-130 Lahore-VIII
NA-155 Multan-II
NA-156 Multan-III
NA-191 Dera Ghazi Khan-III
NA-241 Korangi Karachi-III
NA-242 Karachi East-I
NA-243 Karachi East-II
NA-244 Karachi East-III
NA-247 Karachi South-II
NA-250 Karachi West-III
NA-252 Karachi West-V
NA-254 Karachi Central-II
NA-256 Karachi Central-IV
NA-265 Quetta-II
The notification said that the returning officers (RO) would issue a public notice in this regard on Feb 3. Candidates can file their nomination papers with the RO from Feb 6-8.
The names of the nominated candidates will be published on Feb 9, the electoral watchdog added.
PTI resignations
PTI lawmakers had resigned en masse from the lower house of parliament following the ouster of PTI chief Imran Khan in April last year.
NA Speaker Ashraf on July 28, 2022, accepted the resignations of only 11 PTI lawmakers.
The PTI had challenged the “piecemeal acceptance” in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), contesting that it was “unsustainable”. The IHC, however, had dismissed the petition on Sept 6, 2022.
The party then approached the Supreme Court, praying it to set aside the IHC order, terming it “vague, cursory, and against the law”. A decision on the PTI’s plea in the apex court is still pending.
Ashraf told a PTI delegation on Dec 29, 2022, that the party’s lawmakers would be summoned individually for verification of their resignations as the latter insisted on them being accepted in one go.
