The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in Islamabad has announced the schedule for by-elections to fill vacant seats in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures. The by-elections are scheduled to take place on April 21.
The ECP has specified that by-elections will be conducted for six vacant seats in the National Assembly, 12 in the Punjab Assembly, two each in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan assemblies, and one in the Sindh Assembly.
Nomination papers for the by-elections can be submitted to the ECP from March 16 to 18. The commission will scrutinize the nomination papers on March 21, and appeals against the nominations can be filed until March 25.
The election tribunal will review the appeals by March 28, and candidates will have until March 29 to withdraw their nomination papers. The final list of candidates will be published on March 29, and electoral symbols will be allotted on March 30.
Regarding the background of the constituencies, the general elections for NA-8 Bajaur were postponed due to the murder of a candidate, Rehan Zeb Khan. Similarly, NA-44 Dera Ismail Khan was vacated by Ali Amin Gandapur after assuming the role of K-P chief minister.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif emerged victorious in the elections for two NA and two provincial legislature seats. He vacated NA-132 Kasur and Lahore’s PP-158 and 164 seats to be sworn in for NA-123 Lahore.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari retained NA-194 Larkana but left NA-196 Qamber Shahdadkot vacant. His father, Asif Ali Zardari, vacated NA-207 Shaheed Benazirabad to become the country’s president.
Elections were postponed for the K-P Assembly seat PK-22 Bajaur following the murder of a candidate, and the polls for PK-91 Kohat were deferred following the death of an ANP leader.
A Sindh Assembly seat became vacant after the death of Abdul Aziz Junejo, who won the elections from PS-80 Dadu. In Balochistan, BNP-M chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal retained NA-256 and left PB-20 Khuzdar vacant.
In Punjab, various leaders retained seats and left others vacant, including Ghulam Abbas (NA-53 Rawalpindi), Chaudhry Salik Hussain (NA-64), Muhammad Ahmad Chattha (PP-36 Wazirabad), Ahsan Iqbal (PP-54 Narowal), Rana Tanveer (PP-139 Sheikhupura), Hamza Shehbaz (PP-147 Lahore), and Aleem Khan (PP-149 Lahore).
The polls for PP-266 Rahim Yar Khan were postponed due to the death of a candidate, and PP-290 Dera Ghazi Khan was declared vacant after Awais Leghari did not take oath.
