The Election Fee of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday suspended the election schedule for 37 Nationwide Meeting (NA) seats — which had fallen vacant after the resignation of PTI lawmakers — in mild of the orders issued by the Islamabad, Peshawar, Sindh and Balochistan excessive courts.
On Jan 27, the ECP had announced by-elections for 33 NA seats on March 16. On February 3, the fee said by-elections for one more 31 NA seats would happen on March 19.
However earlier this month, the excessive courts of Peshawar, Sindh and Balochistan had suspended by-elections of their respective provinces whereas the Islamabad Excessive Court docket (IHC) had suspended the de-notification of three PTI leaders.
In 4 separate notifications issued on Sunday, the electoral watchdog stated that till additional orders from the related courts, it was suspending the election schedule for one NA seat in Balochistan, three in Islamabad, 9 in Sindh and 24 in KP.
This contains the next constituencies:
- NA-02 Swat-I
- NA-03 Swat-II
- NA-04 Swat-III
- NA-05 Higher Dir-I
- NA-06 Decrease Dir-I
- NA-07 Decrease Dir-II
- NA-08 Malakand Protected Space
- NA-09 Buner
- NA-16 Abbottabad-II
- NA-17 Haripur-I
- NA-18 Swabi-I
- NA-19 Swabi-II
- NA-20 Mardan-I
- NA-25 Nowshera-I
- NA-26 Nowshera-II
- NA-28 Peshawar-II
- NA-30 Peshawar-IV
- NA-32 Kohat
- NA-34 Karak
- NA-38 D I Khan-I
- NA-40 Bajaur-I
- NA-42 Mohmand
- NA-43 Khyber-I
- NA-44 Khyber-II
- NA-52 Islamabad-I
- NA-53 Islamabad-II
- NA-54 Islamabad-III
- NA-241 Korangi Karachi-III
- NA-242 Karachi East-I
- NA-243 Karachi East-II
- NA-244 Karachi East-III
- NA-247 Karachi South-II
- NA-250 Karachi West-III
- NA-252 Karachi West-V
- NA-254 Karachi Central-II
- NA-256 Karachi Central-IV
- NA-265 Quetta-II
PTI resignations and high courts’ orders
The NA seats were vacated after Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf swiftly moved to accept the resignations of PTI lawmakers, pending since April 2022, in an obvious bid to scuttle the opposition’s purported plan to deliver a confidence movement against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
After stalling the method for eight months, the NA speaker accepted the resignations of 34 PTI MNAs on Jan 17 and 35 MNAs on Jan 20, together with Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid. On Jan 25, the ECP de-notified 43 extra PTI lawmakers after Ashraf accepted their resignations, following with the PTI had approached the courts.
On March 1, the Islamabad Excessive Court docket had suspended the de-notification of three PTI lawmakers — Asad Umar, Ali Nawaz Awan and Raja Khurram Shehzad — and sought a reply from the ECP and NA.
A day later, the Balochistan Excessive Court docket had stopped the ECP from holding the by-election in NA-265, Quetta, together with suspending the ECP’s de-notification of PTI chief Qasim Suri.
On March 3, the Peshawar Excessive Court docket suspended the notification for by-elections on 24 NA seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Earlier this week, the Sindh Excessive Court docket restrained the ECP from holding by-elections on 9 NA seats and suspended the fee’s notification on this regard until April 25.
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