The PTI on Saturday petitioned the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking the suspension of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) by-election schedule for nine general seats of the National Assembly (NA).
The nine seats are among the 11 vacated after the acceptance of resignations of PTI MNAs by the National Assembly (NA) speaker, and their de-notification, last week.
Yesterday, the electoral body issued a notification stating that by-polls for the NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda, NA-31 Peshawar, NA-45 Kurram, NA-108 Faisalabad, NA-118 Nankana Sahib, NA-237 Malir, NA-239 Korangi Karachi and NA-246 Karachi South constituencies will be held on September 25.
NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had, on July 28, accepted the resignations of 11 PTI MNAs — nine on general seats and two on reserved seats for women — sparking controversy over the piecemeal acceptance of resignations.
These lawmakers were among the 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.