Islamabad: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) put off by-elections for 37 National Assembly seats. By-Elections supposed to happen on March 16 and 19 in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan, and the federal capital. This was because of orders from different courts.
Earlier, ECP was all set to hold by-elections this month in over 60 NA seats across the country. It said that all elections for NA seats that needed to be held would happen this month.
Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted their resignations, Afterward, the ECP stopped notifying Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers. This made their seats in the NA open. After Imran Khan’s government was removed by a vote of no confidence in April of last year, more than 120 MNAs from his party quit all at once.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
The ECP has put off until next month the by-elections in as many as 24 National Assembly seats.
In its notice, the group in charge of running the elections said, “According to the orders of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) dated March 3, 2023, in the writ petitions Sher Ali Arbab and others vs. Speaker National Assembly and others and Imran Khattak and others vs. Speaker National Assembly and others, respectively. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is suspending its notifications of election programmes for the following constituencies until further orders from the PHC in the writ petitions.”
Sindh
Sidh’s constituencies are NA-241 Korangi Karachi-III, NA-242 Karachi East 1, NA 243 Karachi East-II, NA-244 Karachi East-II, NA-247 Karahci South-II, NA-250 Karachi West-III, NA-254 Karachi West-V, NA-254 Karachi Central-II, and NA-256 Karachi Central-IV.
Balochistan
The Balochistan High Court (BHC) told the Election Commission (ECP) to put off the by-election for the NA-265 Quetta-II seat, which the ECP did.
Islamabad
The ECP has put off the by-elections for the three NA seats until the court says otherwise. This is what the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered. The by-elections for NA-52 Islamabad-1, NA-53 Islamabad-II, and NA-54 Islamabad-III have been put off.
