By Makhdoom
Shehryar Babar
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced on Wednesday that by-elections for eight National Assembly seats — vacated after the acceptance of the resignations of PTI MNAs — would be held on October 16.
The NA seats were vacated after speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had, on July 28, accepted the resignations of PTI MNAs — nine on general seats and two on reserved seats for women — sparking controversy over the piecemeal acceptance of resignations.
The lawmakers whose resignations were ratified were part of more than 120 who had resigned from their NA seats en masse on April 11, two days after former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted from the top office in a no-confidence vote.
Subsequently, the PTI chief announced that he would be the lone contender for all nine NA seats in a bid to set a record.
The by-elections were originally scheduled to be held during September but were postponed by the commission which cited the unavailability of security personnel in the wake of catastrophic floods across the country. At the same time, the PTI candidate elected from Karachi’s NA-246 Abdul Shakoor Shad, who was among the lawmakers who had resigned in April, had approached the Islamabad High Court earlier this month after which he was reinstated as a MNA.
In the press release issued yesterday, the electoral watchdog said the eight constituencies included NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda, NA-31 Peshawar, NA-45 Kurram, NA-108 Faisalabad, NA-118 Nankana Sahib, NA-237 Malir and NA-239 Karachi.
The ECP also discussed the second phase of the Sindh local body elections and decided that polling for all districts in Karachi division would be held on Oct 23. The press release added that the ECP summoned a report regarding Hyderabad division to assess the flood situation and to determine whether or not by-polls could be held.
Polling was due to be held on August 28 in a total of 16 districts in Sindh — East, West, South, Central, Korangi, Keamari and Malir of Karachi division and Hyderabad, Dadu, Jamshoro, Matiari, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Badin, Sujawal and Thatta of Hyderabad division — in the second phase of the local government polls but was postponed due to heavy rains and the flooding situation in the province.
Further, the ECP also decided that by-elections for NA-157 Mul¬tan, PP-139 Sheikhupura, PP-241 Bahawalnagar and PP-209 Khanewal would also be held on October 16.
PTI’s Zain Qureshi was elected from NA-157 but was among the lawmakers who had resigned following Imran’s ouster. He then contested Multan’s PP-217 constituency defeating his opponent, PML-N’s Muhammad Salman Naeem, with a wide margin.
Even though his resignation was not accepted by the NA speaker, he ceased to hold office once he took oath as a provincial lawmaker. On Monday, the ECP had decided to hold polls in the constituencies on October 9.
However, the ECP meeting was informed yesterday that October 9 was expected to coincide with Eid Miladun Nabi. The participants were also told that the Lahore High Court had directed the ECP to amend the date for the by-elections in light of Eid Miladun Nabi.
The press release said that the decision to change the date was made in order to facilitate citizens so they could freely exercise their right to vote.
