Imran to contest on all seats simultaneously
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday announced that the by-election on nine National Assembly seats vacated by the PTI will be held on Sep 25 — a week after the resignations of lawmakers on the seats in question were accepted by NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.
The NA speaker had on July 28 accepted the resignations of 11 MNAs — nine on general seats and two on reserved seats for women — belonging to the PTI, triggering recriminations from the party for the “piecemeal” acceptance, as well as a legal battle in the Islamabad High Court. The MNAs were denotified on July 30.
According to an ECP statement issued on Friday, the by-elections for the constituencies of NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda, NA-31 Peshawar, NA-45 Kurram, NA-108 Faisalabad, NA-118 Nankana Sahib and Karachi’s NA-237, NA-239, and NA-246 will be held on Sep 25.
The electoral watchdog said candidates could submit their nomination papers from Aug 10 to 13, which would be verified by Aug 17, while election symbols would be issued to the candidates on August 29.
The last date to decide appeals by the appellate tribunal is Aug 25, according to the ECP.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has announced to contest by-polls from all nine seats, vacated after the NA speaker accepted PTI MNAs’ resignation.
According to the ECP schedule, the by-polls on the nine National Assembly seats would be contested on September 25.
In a meeting with senior journalists on Friday, the PTI has announced to contest elections from all nine constituencies himself. Elections would be held this year, government parties want to single him out, he said in the meeting. ‘Would fight against the rulers at every platform,” he added. The government alliance’s plans to disqualify him would never be completed, he said.
Imran Khan said that he made two major mistakes in his political career. He added that he cannot share the first one, but the second one was appointing Sikandar Sultan Raja as the ECP Chief.
