The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced that by-elections will be held on March 16th for 33 National Assembly (NA) seats that have become vacant due to resignations. The final list of contesting candidates will be made public on February 9th, while the scrutiny of nomination papers will take place until February 13th. The last date for filing appeals against the decision of Returning Officers (ROs) is February 16th.
In Rawalpindi, the nomination papers of Awami Muslim League (AML) Chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed have been accepted by the RO for the by-election on NA-26. The AML chief is currently in Adiala Jail on judicial remand in a murder plot allegations case, but the RO had summoned him to join the scrutiny of his nomination papers and had written a letter to the jail authorities. However, Sheikh Rashid was not presented before the RO and his nephew, Sheikh Rashid Shafique, appeared in his place.
Speaking to the media outside the RO’s office, Shafique stated that the jail superintendent had refused to comply with the magistrate’s directive and that Sheikh Rashid was being asked to change his loyalties but had refused, stating that he would stick with PTI Chairman Imran Khan. Workers of the AML and its ally, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), gathered outside the RO’s office in support.
The by-elections have been scheduled after the approval of the resignations of PTI members of the lower house, who resigned en masse following the ouster of PTI Chairman Imran Khan in April 2022. The ECP’s notification states that the by-elections are being held in accordance with the Elections Act, 2017 and the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
