ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan today announced the election schedule for the nine National Assembly seats which fell vacant after the resignations of PTI MNAs accepted and notified in July 2020.
The seats were previously occupied by members who had been elected on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) tickets. PTI Chairman Imran Khan has announced his decision to contest by elections alone on all nine seats.
The PTI MNAs whose resignations have been accepted are:
- Ali Muhammad Khan (NA-22),
- Faisal Muhammad Khan (NA-24),
- Shaukat Ali (NA-31),
- Fakhar Zaman Khan (NA-45),
- Farrukh Habib (NA-108),
- Ejaz Ahmad Shah (NA-118) ),
- Jameel Ahmad Khan (NA-237),
- Mohammad Akram Cheema (NA-239),
- Abdul Shakur Shaad (NA-246),
- Dr Meher Ansa Shireen Mazari (Reserved Seat), and
- Shandana Gulzar Khan (Reserved Seat).
On Friday (Aug-5), the ECP directed the interested candidates to submit their nomination papers to the returning officer between August 10-13 while the names of nominated candidates will be published on August 14. An appellate tribunal of the ECP will decide on all appeals till Aug 25 against the decisions of the returning officer to accept or reject nominations.
The polling day has been scheduled for September 25.
The polls will be held for NA-22 Mardan-III, NA-24 Charsadda-II, NA-31 Peshawar-V, NA-45 Kurram-I, NA-108 Faisalabad-VIII, NA-118 Nankana Sahib-II, NA-237 Malir-II, NA-239 Korangi Karachi-I, NA-246 Karachi South-I.
All the PTI members of the National Assembly resigned en masse when Imran Khan lost vote of no-confidence in the parliament.
National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf did not accept the resignations, instead, he directed all PTI MNAs to appear before him in person to verify their resignations from June 6-10.
But not a single PTI MNA appeared before him after the party chief, Imran Khan, barred them from doing so.
On July 29, however, Ashraf issued a notification stating that he had accepted the resignations of 11 PTI MNAs and directed the ECP to denotify them.
