Former Pakistan PM Imran to contest by-elections on all 9 NA vacant seats

Tariq Butt, Correspondent

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan will contest by-elections on nine National Assembly (NA) seats scheduled to be held on Sept.25.

“In the by-elections of 9 National Assembly constituencies to be held on Sept.25, Imran himself will contest from all the seats,” the PTI announced on its official Twitter handle.

Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued a schedule for by-elections on the seats that fell vacant following the acceptance of resignations of the PTI lawmakers by National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.

The constituencies where by-polls will be held, include 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 and NA 246 Karachi South I.

According to the schedule released by the ECP, public notices will be issued by the returning officers (ROs) on Saturday while candidates can file nomination papers from Aug.10-13.

The ECP will publish a final list of nominated candidates by Aug.14. The scrutiny of the candidates will be completed by the ROs on Aug.17 and appeals against their candidature can be filed till Aug.20.

On Aug.25, the ECP will decide the objections against the candidates while on Aug. 26 final lists of candidates will be displayed, who will be allotted election symbols on Aug.29.

Meanwhile, the ECP said it is prepared to conduct general elections by October. Officials said that the ECP has completed the work of delimitation of constituencies and eliminated any objections regarding them.

“Work has been completed in all constituencies for all national and provincial seats,” they added.

Earlier the ECP had assured the Supreme Court that it would complete constituencies’ delimitations by August 2022.

Officials said the ECP will publish the voter and constituencies list by the end of this month.

The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — which mostly comprises political parties in the ruling coalition, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — declared that the next general elections would be held on its scheduled time next year.

“The general elections will be held on time and the current government will complete its term,” said PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

On the other hand, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has emphasised that the only way to end the current political crisis in the country was to hold immediate clean and transparent elections.